‘This is what the walls of a true household are all about.  They are a boundary. ‘Boundary’ is the same word as ‘bond’.  What is the bond here? Are families prisoners to each other? …

…but used in another way, the word ‘bond’ takes on an opposite meaning.  This occurs when we are talking about the bond of love.  All of a sudden the grim suggestions of the word vanish.  A lover’s bonds are his wings.  He is set free by entering into the bond of love.  The arms of his beloved around him are as wide as the circumference of the world.  Here in this narrow cell he has found all the empires and hemispheres that conquerors and navigators have ever sought.’

Thomas Howard – Hallowed be this House