He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune
'To give hostages to fortune' is to
accept responsibilities that may limit one's freedom or to do something risky
which may cause one trouble later. So the whole statement, "He that hath
wife and children hath given hostages to fortune" goes against a married
man. It says that a person who has wife and children has invited trouble for
himself The statement implies that wife and children are impediments to
success. They are obstacles to any great enterprise in life. A married man may
want to do anything great but he often fails to do it because of the problems
created by his wife and children. As a married man has always to be obsessed
with the responsibilities of his family, he can hardly do anything for himself
or for anybody else outside his family.
As he has to spend most of his time for
the well-being of his family, he can hardly make time to do anything great.
Thus he cannot engage himself in any great enterprise. This suggests that if
anyone wants to attain anything great in life, they should attain it before
their marriage. It is very likely that after their marriage all their roads to
success will be blocked. If a student gets married in his student life, his
studies will be seriously affected by the responsibilities of his married life.
If a university teacher gets married early in his career, his higher studies
may often be impossible. Wife and children are often great barriers to success.
However, the statement is made from only a male perspective. From a female
perspective, it can be said that she that hath husband and children hath given
hostages to fortune. And if we consider the statement from a neutral
perspective, we can use the word 'spouse' in place of 'wife'.
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