January 20: Wedding Month

“If you get a good wife, you’ll be happy. If you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.” That’s what Sokrates had to say about marriage. But one can’t help wondering if it’s not the other way around. It can’t have been easy for his wife to have to deal with his witty replies. Xanthippe bore full responsibility for the household, because he was too busy “being himself, in a world that was constantly trying to make him someone else.” When she reproached him, he would smile. “Strong minds discuss ideas, weak minds discuss people.” When money became tight, he would shrug: “The secret of happiness is not found in seeking more, but in enjoying less. And when she felt she couldn’t cope: “Beware the barenness of a busy life!” The Oracle had declared him to be the smartest person on earth, and he spent years figuring out why, because “an unexamined life is not worth living”. Ultimately he concluded: “It’s because I know that I know nothing.” Finally, something that Xanthippe could agree with.