“First examine the mother before you marry the daughter.” The mother will often give a hint what the daughter will become especially if the daughter is obedient to her mother. During my stay in Paris I befriended an Armenian electrician named Arsene. He moved from Syria to France and developed a successful electrical repair business. He confided in me about his wife. She had tried to commit suicide several times and was nearly always forlorn. She had a drinking problem. Arsene had surprised her several times having affairs with strangers in his own house. I asked him how it was that he married such a woman. Arsene related the story of his first encounter with her. He saw her sitting on a barstool in a Parisian Bistrot with a cigarette dangling from one corner of her lips. Her head was cocked toward the cigarette, whose smoke was rising into her eyes that were squinting from the smoke. Arsene said she reminded him of his dear grandmother who would sit at the kitchen table with her head cocked smoking a cigarette whose smoke made her eyes squint. In amazement I said, “Is that the reason you married her?” Arsene replied that the image of her on the barstool reminded him so much of his dear grandmother. He felt a natural attraction to her that led to marriage. Arsene got all his signals scrambled that resulted in a tragedy. His poor wife finally did succeed in committing suicide. He later married his wife’s sister and the story continues. It is better to rely on the wisdom of the ancestors when it comes to choosing a wife. “First examine the mother before you marry the daughter.”