“Daddy was real gentle with kids. That's why I expected so much out of marriage, figuring that all men should be steady and pleasant.”
Marriage is a long conversation, and these quotes capture many of its chapters — the romance, the compromise, the arguments, the inside jokes, and the deep comfort of being truly known by another person over decades.
“It takes patience to appreciate domestic bliss volatile spirits prefer unhappiness.”
“Daddy was real gentle with kids. That's why I expected so much out of marriage, figuring that all men should be steady and pleasant.”
“I believe in the institution of marriage, and I intend to keep trying till I get it right.”
“There is nothing in the world like the devotion of a married woman. It is a thing no married man knows anything about.”
“Do the bishops seriously imagine that legalising gay marriage will result in thousands of parties to heterosexual marriages suddenly deciding to get divorced so they can marry a person of the same sex?”
“Whenever the people are for gay marriage or medical marijuana or assisted suicide, suddenly the 'will of the people' goes out the window.”
“In marriage, compromise nurtures the relationship.”
“Who of us is mature enough for offspring before the offspring themselves arrive? The value of marriage is not that adults produce children but that children produce adults.”
“I think of marriage as a garden. You have to tend to it. Respect it, take care of it, feed it. Make sure everyone is getting the right amount of, um, sunlight.”
“I'm an advocate for gay marriage. I have more gay friends than Carter has pills.”
“Married men live longer than single men. But married men are a lot more willing to die.”
“Men go into marriage with virtually no expectations whatsoever. Ten years later, the men are delightfully surprised to find out that it's actually kind of nice, and the women have sort of had to take a nose dive from what they thought it was going to be.”
“People try much less hard to make a marriage work than they used to fifty years ago. Divorce is easier.”
“In December 1998, I considered myself an expert on love. I was almost a year into a relationship, one that had grown more slowly than I had wished, but once it flowered it was much more stimulating than any marriage or relationship I had known.”
“A miracle... my biggest accomplishment is my marriage so far. Because it's hard, everyone knows it's hard.”
“I tried marriage. I'm 0 for 3 with the marriage thing. So, being a ballplayer - I believe in numbers. I'm not going 0 for 4. I'm not wearing a golden sombrero.”