Marriage Quote by Richard H. Davis

A faint whiff of old-money pragmatism hangs over this line: romance as a bidding war conducted by men who treat marriage like a club membership with annual dues. Richard H. Davis frames desire in the language of competition and logistics - "one of us" will marry her, as if the woman is a prize to be assigned, not a person choosing. That shrugging "We don't know which" is the tell. It’s comic, but it’s also a neat expression of male entitlement: her divorce is a gate that will open, and the men are already waiting on the other side.

Davis’s intent isn’t purely misogynistic sneering; it’s social satire with a reporter’s ear for how people incriminate themselves in casual speech. He gives her real attributes - "witty and well-informed" - only to show how quickly those qualities get converted into market value. Beauty is noted, intellect is conceded, then both are subordinated to upkeep. The punchline lands on "diamonds", reducing the entire calculus of partnership to a projected expense account. It’s a line that flatters its own candor: the speaker believes he’s being refreshingly honest, which is exactly what makes the honesty ugly.

Context matters: Davis wrote in a Gilded Age-to-early-20th-century world where divorce was scandalous, women’s social mobility was policed, and marriage was openly transactional among the leisure class. The quote works because it performs that transaction out loud, with enough wit to pass as sophistication - and enough cynicism to expose the rot under the polish.