“Take care, while you are young, that you can think in those days, 'I never whitened a hair of her dear head, I never marked a sorrowful line in her face!' For of all the many things that you can think when you are a man, you had better have that by you, Woolwich!”
Source: Bleak House (1852-1853), Ch. 34
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Charles Dickens 116
English writer and social critic and a Journalist 1812–1870Related quotes

“She knows her man, and when you rant and swear,
Can draw you to her with a single hair.”
Persius, Satire v, line 246.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Variant: You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She's not perfect — you aren't either, and the two of you may never be perfect together but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break — her heart. So don't hurt her, don't change her, don't analyze and don't expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she's not there.

A Heap o' Livin' (1916)
Source: How Do You Tackle Your Work, stanza 2, p. 63.