Simone de Beauvoir. The second floor (№ 278333)

Wedding ceremonies originally designed to protect a man from a woman; she becomes his property: but all that we possess in turn possesses us; for men marriage is also a serious responsibility, and thus he falls into the trap set by nature: that when a man wished a fresh young girl, he bound all his life to feed fat matron and dried-out old woman; a fragile jewel, designed to adorn his existence, becomes a disgusting burden.