A cousin on the father's side is patrilateral while those on the mother's side are matrilateral. There is the false assumption that cousin marriages are religiously immoral, according to Biblical scriptures from Leviticus 18. This passage outlines who one can and cannot have sex with, and prohibits sex with a number of family members. However, there is no mention of cousins, and later in the Bible, several marriages between first cousins occur. Perhaps the most compelling reason to avoid a romantic relationship with a cousin is the social stigma attached to dating a relative.
Many people assume that the relationship is incestuous or just plain weird.
However, this is no longer the case. Those who try to date a cousin are virtually guaranteed social pariah status. We eventually ended up breaking up because nobody could understand what we were doing. Well, Albert Einstein, for one. Also Charles Darwin, the infamous scientist and theorist, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, arguably one of the most influential and effective presidents of this century.