Marriage is a desperate thing.

Selden’s aphorism treats marriage not as a serene social ideal but as a high-stakes commitment entered under pressure—emotional, economic, familial, or reputational. “Desperate” suggests a leap taken when other options feel closed: one binds one’s future to another person, accepting uncertainty and irreversible consequences. Read this way, the line is less a blanket condemnation than a dry, skeptical observation about the risks inherent in formalizing intimacy. It also reflects a tradition of early modern English wit that punctures pieties about domestic life, emphasizing how institutions meant to stabilize society can feel personally perilous.