Never Marry But For Love Poem by William Penn

Never marry but for love;
but see that thou lovest what is lovely.
If love be not the chiefest motive,
thou wilt soon grow weary of a married state and stray from thy promise,
to search out thy pleasures in forbidden places...

Between a man and his wife nothing ought to rule but love ...
As love ought to bring them together,
so it is the best way to keep them well together.

A husband and wife that love and value one another show their children...
that they should do so too.
Others visibly lose authority in their families by their contempt of one another,
and teach their children to be unnatural by their own examples.

Let not enjoyment lessen,
but augment, affection;
it being the basest of passions to like when we have not,
what we slight when we possess.

Here it is we ought to search out our pleasure,
where the field is large and full of variety,
and of an enduring nature;
sickness,
poverty or disgrace being not able to shake it because it is not under the moving influences of worldly contingencies.

Nothing can be more entire and without reserve;
nothing more zealous,
affectionate and sincere;
nothing more contented than such a couple,
nor greater temporal felicity than to be one of them.