Note 99 — Chapter XI
Reading edition
The sympathy which we mentioned as the beginning of the hypothetical love affair does lead to a partial identity of will, it is true; but there is often too little in common between the man and woman to make this identity at all complete. As Karl Pearson points out, it is almost essential to a successful marriage that two people have sympathy with each other's aims and a considerable degree of similarity in habits. If such a bond is lacking, the bond of sympathy aroused by some trivial circumstance will not be sufficient to keep the marriage from shipwreck. The occasional altruism of young men who marry inferior girls because they "feel sorry for them" is not praiseworthy.