A Married Man

p. 246

Father Michael to Clare, contemplating adultery: “We talk so much now about human rights, but do not children have the right to be brought up by their own mother and father, living together amicably under one roof? The fear of the unhappiness you might cause to Tom and Anna should in itself inoculate you against adultery, for Christ had the direst warning for those who harmed children. You may as well slash at them with a knife as lend your body and your love to another man, for in betraying John and breaking your vows to him you betray them and break the promises implicit in the natural bond between mother and child.”