It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
A man's best fortune, or his worst, is his wife.
No woman marries for money; they are all clever enough, before marrying a millionaire, to fall in love with him first.
Not many men have both good fortune and good sense.
That's what a man wants in a wife, mostly; he wants to make sure one fool tells him he's wise.
Nothing flatters a man as much as the happiness of his wife; he is always proud of himself as the source of it.
It is not always possible or even right for a man to make his wife number one in his life. This is due to the nature of his life. His number one responsibility is to provide the living.
Many a man owes his success to his first wife and his second wife to his success.
A single woman with a very narrow income must be a ridiculous, disagreeable old maid - the proper sport of boys and girls; but a single woman of good fortune is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as anybody else.
No matter how happily a woman may be married, it always pleases her to discover that there is a really nice man who wishes she were not.
To paraphrase Jane Austen, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a married man in possession of a vast fortune must be in want of a newer, younger wife.