婚姻就像个杯子，提供个容器，把男人和女人放在一起，依靠相互的渗透，让这本来很苦的生活散出点香味儿来。
June 25th, 1745
My dear friend,
I know of no Medicine fit to diminish the violent natural inclination you mention; and if I did, I think I should not communicate it to you. Marriage is the proper Remedy. It is the most natural State of Man, and therefore the State in which you will find solid Happiness. Your Reason against entering into it at present appears to be not well founded. The Circumstantial Advantages you have in View by Postponing it, are not only uncertain, but they are small in comparison with the Thing itself, the being married and settled. It is the Man and Woman united that makes the complete human Being. Separate she wants his force of Body and Strength of Reason; he her Softness, Sensibility and acute Discernment. Together they are most likely to succeed in the World. A single man has not nearly the Value he would have in that State of Union. He is an incomplete Animal. He resembles the odd Half of a Pair of Scissors.
If you get a prudent, healthy wife, your Industry in your Profession, with her good Economy, will be a Fortune sufficient.
Your Affectionate Friend Excerpt From Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress
By Benjamin Franklin
［参考译文］
给年轻朋友的一封信
本杰明·富兰克林
亲爱的朋友：
我知道没有什么药物能够消除你们所提到的那种疯狂的自然倾向；即使我知道，我想我也不该告诉你们。婚姻是适当的药物。它是人类最本能的状态，因此是一种最幸福的生活状态。你们拒绝现在进入婚姻殿堂的理由显得不够充分。你认为推迟婚姻可能存在的好处不仅不一定实现，而且那些利益跟婚姻本身以及婚后的安定相比起来显得微不足道。男人和女人只有结合起来才能组成完整的人。女人缺乏男人的力量和周密的推理，而男人缺乏女人的温柔、感性和敏锐的洞察力。因此男人和女人联合起来就很可能会无往不胜。单身和离婚生活中的男男女女不可能具有婚姻生活中的价值，是一种不完整的动物。他就好比半把剪刀——孤掌难鸣。
如果你拥有一位健康而谨慎的妻子，你的辛勤工作加上她的精明理财，必定会创造充足的财富。
您真挚的朋友
［注释］
circumstantial advantages ：可能的利益
he her softness ：男人缺乏女人的温柔
［作者简介］
本杰明·富兰克林（Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790），资本主义精神最完美的代表，18世纪美国最伟大的科学家，发明家，著名的政治家和文学家。独立战争爆发后，他参加了第二届大陆会议和《独立宣言》的起草工作。至今他仍被美国人尊称为最有名的开国元勋之一。