Let’s compare two men.

Man 1 abjures marriage.

At the end, he wheezes his last with memories of hundreds of women -- of their loving ministrations and tender caresses and fleeting intimacies between window blind shafts of sunlight -- dancing through his head, and in the company of a nebulous regret that refuses to dislodge.

Man 2 abjures bachelorhood.

At the end, he wheezes his last in the company of his old wife’s tears and clouded eyes, and he drifts off to forever with memories he wished he had, and memories so distant they have receded to mere imagination.

Now... ask yourself:

Which of these two men had it better?