Marriage Quote by Bruce Jay Friedman

A rulebook that sabotages itself mid-sentence is Friedman at his most sly: he sets up a moral posture, lets it stand just long enough to sound like a man of principle, then punctures it with a punchline that exposes the principle as performance. The “Code of Honor” arrives in the stiff cadence of older masculine etiquette, the kind of locker-room chivalry that pretends to be ethical while really policing male rivalry. “Never approach” is absolute, the kind of language people use when they want their virtue to feel airtight.

Then comes the rationalization: “too many women in the world,” as if women are interchangeable units in an abundant marketplace. The line isn’t just sexist; it’s economically sexist, turning fidelity into a matter of supply and demand rather than respect. That’s the subtext doing its work: the speaker isn’t protecting a friend so much as protecting his own self-image as a “good guy.”

The last clause, “Unless she’s really attractive,” is the trapdoor. It reveals the code’s true operating system: desire outranks loyalty, and “honor” is what you invoke until temptation gets specific. It also mocks a certain masculine hypocrisy where ethics are framed as rules - right up to the moment they become inconvenient. Friedman's intent reads less like giving advice than staging a small, cruel comedy about how easily men turn values into loopholes, and how quickly “friendship” becomes negotiable when beauty enters the room.