High expectations

I know plenty of smart, educated, (soon to be) financially secure, better-than-average looking people who are single and yet wish they were not. By their own account, they don't have too many requirements, so why they can't meet somebody?
Well, first of all, they DO have high requirements. They want the partner to be "reasonable", which immediately eliminates most of the population. But it does not end there. They have high expectations - they are probably at the top 1% of the population in their IQ/abilities. They expect their partner to be similar. They feel (rightly) secure, they don't really need anybody and they can wait for the right person to come.
Such person will never come. Yes, I might be hoping to find girl like Angelina Jolie and you can hope for your Brad Pitt, with brain almost as good as yours, but it's not going to happen. Never.
Chances that you meet such person and that such person will like you back is zero. Fortunately, there is a solution. Lie to yourself - give up your hopes, convince yourself that girl/boy XY is quite nice and quite smart (neither as much as you would hope, but pretty good anyway). Marry her/him!

Will you do it? I won't. I would, if this reasoning happened subconsciously, but it did not. And if you do it, chances are that these small things that bug you today will get bigger. Much bigger - as big as a divorce. Or if you meet the right person, s/he may feel you are not that great for her/him, which you may accept now, but it will eat you from inside over time.

P.S. Even Stephen Colbert takes upon the article