Theodoor Hendrik van de Velde – Het Volkomen Huwelijk (The perfect marriage)
“This book is going to say many things, which are usually left unsaid. Therefore it will cause me some discomfort. I know this, because I consider my fellow men and their nature to be impermissible, which they have not come to know gradually.
For that reason alone I could not have written it before. The physician who has to take into account the requirements of his practice cannot afford to deviate from the ordinary route.
But whoever has made himself free – who can say what he thinks is correct, also has the duty to do so. So I have to write down what I have learned to see as correct. I couldn’t forgive myself if I left it. For it is urgent to point these out; too much suffering is suffered, which can be avoided; neglected too much joy, which could increase happiness in life.
I am now also the right age for this work and sufficient preparation. The man of science, who has devoted himself to theoretical and practical issues for more than a quarter of a century; the writer, who has shaped many and many thoughts; the woman doctor with extensive experience; the trusted of many men and women; man to whom nothing human has remained, the manganese to whom nothing masculine has remained alien; the husband, who has experienced the happiness and suffering of marriage; the man of the fifties, at last, who has learned to consider life with wise resignation, who grew too old to do youth stupidities, but has remained too young “um ohne Wunsch zu sein”; – all of them together, having one pen, may have been called to this work.
I could spare myself the unpleasantness I was referring to just by choosing a pseudonym. I will not make use of this possibility because I want to defend scientific views with my scientific name, and because advice, which has a fundamental ethical significance, loses its effect if it is given under anonymity.
So I will then calmly accept the inevitables, hoping, even believing that many – even if they will not say it – will murmur a word of thanks in the silence of their happiness.”