Alain De Botton

Well, you know, we've all been, I think, at times where people have been a little too honest and they felt a little bit grumpy and they just decided to blame us for it.

And you want to go...

Could you be a little touch less honest about this?

I don't need to know everything.

Yes, I'm all for that.

I think overall, marriage is a pretty tough thing to impose on anyone that you care deeply about, because it's a big adventure and it's going to have lots of stresses and strains.

And I think that, you know, when you see a young couple and you think, my goodness, the journey that they're going to be on.

And I think sometimes the question is, why do people still get married?

Given everything that we know about the difficulties of marriage and

The newspapers are always full of articles called things like the end of marriage and young people are no longer getting married.

But the striking thing is so many people still are getting married.

And I think that's a really weird phenomenon looked at from one point of view.

I think that an unconscious or semi-conscious part of us recognizes that there is real benefit in locking ourselves up in a cage willingly with another person and throwing away the key.

Because we know that sometimes there are areas of growth and development that will require us to not be able to run away when it gets tough.

And sometimes in relationships, you do just want to run away.

And then you think, I've got nowhere to go.

I'm going to have to stay.

I'm going to have to stick with this argument.

And I think that we willingly, as I say, imprison ourselves because we sense growth.

And that's why people have these huge weddings and spend tons of money and invite Auntie Jane from Newcastle to come all the way.