89% of glamour.com readers say NO.
YES: "It's not about settling as much as it is about not reaching for something unattainable. Women want to be dazzled with Prince Charming-romantic gestures, but think about what's going to matter in 20 years. Compatibility. When you're in your twenties, you're meeting all these guys, and they're 8s. But you say, 'Oh, he could be taller,' or 'He plays video games too much,' so you break up with him because you want a 10. You become entitled and picky — despite the fact that you're not a 10, by the way. When I say you should settle, I mean go for those 8s. Eights are a catch! Believe me, when you're 40 and single, you will be dying to have those 8s, but they'll all be married. And then you will have to settle — for a 5." —Lori Gottlieb, author of the upcoming book Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough
NO: "Marrying someone you aren't crazy about only to secure the financial and domestic conveniences of wedlock is as stale and trite as day-old Doritos. Settling represents a failure of both imagination and confidence. It marks an essential disregard for others and for ourselves: for the capacity to love, to give, to inspire. It's difficult enough to make a marriage last. If we cannot so much as drum up enthusiasm in the beginning — if we lack even the memory of a full-blooded passion to sustain us through times of trial — then we are frail indeed. By settling, we exploit others, and we impoverish ourselves." —Cristina Nehring, author of A Vindication of Love: Reclaiming Romance for the Twenty-First Century
