"Love is God's mystery and should be hidden from outsiders' eyes, whatever happens. This makes it holier, better. The husband and the wife respect each other more, and a great deal is founded on respect. And if there has been love, if they were married for love, why should love cease? Isn't it possible to keep it alive? It is a rare case when it's impossible. Besides, if the husband happens to be a kind and honest man, how can love pass? It's true, the feeling of the early married days will pass, but the love that will come afterwards will be still better. Man and wife will grow close in spirit; they'll have no secrets from each other. And when children start coming, the hardest times will seem happy, so long as there is love and courage. Work goes like a song, and even if you have to deny yourself a piece of bread once in a while for the children's sake, life's full of joy all the same. After all they'll love you for it afterwards; so that you're really saving for your own future.
The children start growing up, and you feel that you are setting an example for them; that even when you die, they'll carry your thoughts and feelings inside them all their lives, for you've bequeathed them your image, and they will grow up in your likeness. So you see, this is a great duty, and how can the mother and father help but grow closer? Some people say it is a hardship to have c hildren. But who says so? It's a joy from heaven! Do you love babies, Liza? I love them terribly. You know- imagine a pink little boy suckling your breast. What husband's heart could turn against his wife, seeing her with his child? The baby, rosy, plump, spreads out his arms and legs, luxuriating in your warmth; his little hands and feet are firm like ripe apples, the nails clean and tiny, so tiny they are comical to see, and the eyes look at you as though he already understands everything. And when he suckles, he tug at your breast with his little hand, playing. His father will com over, and the baby will turn from the breast, bend backward, look at him and laugh- as if it were God knows how funny- then start suckling again. Or else, when the teeth begin to come, he'll take a nip at his mother's breast and look at her out of the corner of his eye; 'See, i bit you!' Isn't this the greatest happiness in the world when the three of them, the husband, wife, and child are together? For such moments, a lot can be forgiven. No, Liza, I suppose one has to learn how to live himself before accusing others!"
fyodor dostoevsky