proverb · Words worth keeping
Choose a wife to please yourself, not others.
Choose a wife to please yourself, not others.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Choosing a wife for oneself rather than others gives an intimate decision independence from outside approval. The saying values personal judgment within gendered wording.
What the words are saying
A critical reading does not make another person a possession or reduce partnership to pleasing one chooser. A useful application values mutual consent, needs and respect while considering relevant concerns without making outside pressure decisive. The principle need not be limited to one gender or relationship form.
Everyday example
Two people discuss their shared choice without allowing social approval to replace mutual consent.
When to use it
Use it critically to value mutual choice without ownership or unilateral entitlement.
What it does not mean
No ownership, right to obtain a partner or decision without mutual consent is established.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- Contributor-provided wisdom reference (2014 AD)
Supplied reference B; unit 919; PDF page 81; collection label: Transylvania Province of Romania
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- Transylvania Province of Romania