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0067b96 [Spiritual friendship] is eagerly helping one another know, serve, love, and resemble God in deeper and deeper ways. marriage spirituality love Timothy Keller
2428b8f "No: I shall not marry Samuel Fawthrop Wynne." "I ask why? I must have a reason. In all respects he is more than worthy of you." She stood on the hearth; she was pale as the white marble slab and cornice behind her; her eyes flashed large, dilated, unsmiling. "And ask in what sense that young man is worthy of ?" integrity marriage men equality feminism self-determination independence women self-awareness empowerment suitability worthiness marriage-proposal matrimony dignity social-norms inferiority gender courtship wooing Charlotte Brontë
5c59454 Both men and women today see marriage not as a way of creating character and community but as a way to reach personal life goals. They are looking for a marriage partner who will 'fulfill their emotional, sexual, and spiritual desires.' And that creates an extreme idealism that in turn leads to a deep pessimism that you will ever find the right person to marry. marriage relationships love Timothy Keller
06545de marriage is foremost a vocation. Two people are called together to fulfill a mission that God has given them. Marriage is a spiritual reality. That is to say, a man and a woman come together for life, not just because they experience deep love for each other, but because they believe that God loves each of them with an infinite love and has called them to each other to be living witnesses of that love. To love is to embody God's infinite love in a faithful communion with another human being. marriage Henri J.M. Nouwen
fdae252 I'll have no husband, if you be not he. marriage love William Shakespeare
ac0c3be Every so often I would look at my women friends who were happily married and didn't cook, and I would always find myself wondering how they did it. Would anyone love me if I couldn't cook? I always thought cooking was part of the package: Step right up, it's Rachel Samstat, she's bright, she's funny and she can cook! marriage humor Nora Ephron
fdbb724 ...marriage, they say, halves one's rights and doubles one's duties. marriage louisa-may-alcott Louisa May Alcott
39b908b "Annabelle, what happened to you?" Lillian asked the next morning. "You look dreadful. Why aren't you wearing your riding habit? I thought you were going to try out the jumping course this morning. And why did you disappear so suddenly last night? It's not like you to simply vanish without saying--" "I didn't have a choice in the matter," Annabelle said testily, folding her fingers around the delicate bowl of a porcelain teacup. Looking pale and exhausted, her blue eyes ringed with dark shadows, she swallowed a mouthful of heavily sweetened tea before continuing. "It was that blasted perfume of yours--as soon as he caught one whiff of it, he went berserk." Shocked, Lillian tried to take in the information, her stomach plummeting. "It... it had an effect on Westcliff, then?" she managed to ask. "Good Lord, not Lord Westcliff." Annabelle rubbed her weary eyes. "He couldn't have cared less what I smelled like. It was my husband who went completely mad. After he caught the scent of that stuff, he dragged me up to our room and...well, suffice it to say, Mr. Hunt kept me awake all night. All night ," she repeated in sullen emphasis, and drank deeply of the tea. "Doing what?" Daisy asked blankly. Lillian, who was feeling a rush of relief that Lord Westcliff had not been attracted to Annabelle while she was wearing the perfume, gave her younger sister a derisive glance. "What do you think they were doing? Playing a few hands of Find-the-Lady?" marriage perfume Lisa Kleypas
92fe96d Nobles and peasants marry early. Businessmen tend to wait. marriage David Eddings
e685918 Well, in the first place girls never marry the men they flirt with. Girls don't think it right. marriage women humor Oscar Wilde
dd7e2e0 When you have been just told that the girl you love is definitely betrothed to another, you begin to understand how Anarchists must feel when the bomb goes off too soon. jealousy marriage humor engagement P.G. Wodehouse
5b6140b Like the muscles knew from the beginning that it would end with this, this inevitable falling apart... It's sad, but a relief as well to know that two things so closely bound together can separate with so little violence, leaving smooth surfaces instead of bloody shreds. marriage love divorce Julie Powell
41518d7 I was a veritable Johnny Appleseed of grand expectations, and all I reaped for my trouble was a harvest of bitter fruit. marriage truth Elizabeth Gilbert
d6e9b82 You silly Arthur! If you knew anything about...anything, which you don't, you would know that I adore you. Everyone in London knows it except you. It is a public scandal the way I adore you. I have been going about for the last six months telling the whole of society that I adore you. I wonder you consent to have anything to say to me. I have no character left at all. At least, I feel so happy that I am quite sure I have no character left at all. marriage Oscar Wilde
4a2e8ec "You must not imagine that Papa or I have the least notion of compelling you to marry anyone whom you hold in aversion, for I am sure that such a thing would be quite shocking! And Charles would not do so either, would you, dear Charles?"(Elizabeth Ombersley) "No, certainly not. But neither would I consent to her marriage with any such frippery fellow as Augustus Fawnhope!" "Augustus," announced Cecilia, putting up her chin, "will be remembered long after you have sunk into oblivion!" "By his creditors? I don't doubt it." marriage siblings Georgette Heyer
c80573e "Many married women who have deliberately spurned the "hour" of childbearing are unhappy and frustrated. They never discovered the joys of marriage because they refused to surrender to the obligation of their state. In saving themselves, they lost themselves!" marriage christianity spirituality religion happiness philosophy family-planning joy-of-marriage unhappy-marriage pro-life childbirth expectation Fulton J. Sheen
38d8914 For him the universe did not extend beyond the circumference of her petticoat. marriage love Gustave Flaubert
29543c7 I needed to choose between the one thing that really filled m thoughts-my love for that woman-and losing my freedom and all the choices that the future promised me. To be honest, the decision was easy. -Lukas Jessen-Petersen marriage sacrifice Paulo Coelho
6282101 When you love someone - when you create a child with him - you don't just suddenly lose that bond. Like any other energy, it can't be destroyed, just channeled into something else. marriage Jodi Picoult
50c98a3 Still it is true that many same-sex couples want nothing more than to join society as fully integrated socially responsible family-centered taxpaying Little League-coaching nation-serving respectably married citizens. So why not welcome them in Why not recruit them by the vanload to sweep in on heroic wings and save the flagging and battered old institution of matrimony from a bunch of apathetic ne'er-do-well heterosexual deadbeats like me marriage humor gay-marriage gay-rights same-sex-marriage homosexual matrimony Elizabeth Gilbert
4e424e9 I believe people ought to mate for life...like pigeons or Catholics. marriage humor love Woody Allen
7d2e42d He reached out a long arm and drew me in, holding me close against him. I put my arms around him and felt the quiver of his muscles, exhausted, and the sheer hard strength still in him, that would hold him up, no matter how tired he might be. We stood quite still for some time, my cheek against his chest and his face against my hair, drawing strength from each other for whatever might come next. Being married. marriage strength Diana Gabaldon
a49729f Perhaps I won't marry then. Instead, you and I shall live as spinsters in a cottage by the sea. We'll burn our corsets, eat chocolate morning, noon and night and grow fat as hedgehogs. marriage humor Alyxandra Harvey
e78dd42 Some of the freckles I once loved are now closer to liver spots. But it's still the eyes we look at, isn't it? That's where we found the other person, and find them still. marriage love familiarity contentment long-term-relationships habit Julian Barnes
6053c1f She was as sated with him as he was tired of her. Emma had rediscovered in adultery all the banality of marriage. marriage boredom Gustave Flaubert
1264373 A good marriage, like any partnership, meant subordinating one's own needs to that of the other's, in the expectation that the other will do the same. marriage Nicholas Sparks
6322f61 But gay marriage is coming to America first and foremost because marriage here is a secular concern, not a religious one. The objection to gay marriage is almost invariably biblical, but nobody's legal vows in this country are defined by interpretation of biblical verse - or at least, not since the Supreme Court stood up for Richard and Mildred Loving. A church wedding ceremony is a nice thing, but it is neither required for legal marriage in America nor does it constitute legal marriage in America. What constitutes legal marriage in this country is that critical piece of paper that you and your betrothed must sign and then register with the state. The morality of your marriage may indeed rest between you and God, but it's that civic and secular paperwork which makes your vows official here on earth. Ultimately, then, it is the business of America's courts, not America's churches, to decide the rules of matrimonial law, and it is in those courts that the same-sex marriage debate will finally be settled. marriage gay-rights same-sex-marriage Elizabeth Gilbert
09d8ee6 People do not get married planning to divorce. Divorce is the result of a lack of preparation for marriage and the failure to learn the skills of working together as teammates in an intimate relationship. marriage marriage-preparation relationships-advice failure-relationship marriage-life Gary Chapman
4486d4e Well, the husband was very depressed for the longest while. Even after he found out that his wife was going to pull through, he was still very depressed. Not about the accident, though. I mean, the accident was one thing, but it wasn't everything. I'd get up to his mouth-hole, you know, and he'd say no, it wasn't the accident exactly but it was because he couldn't see her through his eye-holes. He said that was what was making him feel bad. Can you imagine? I'm telling you, the man's heart was breaking because he couldn't turn his goddamn head and see his goddamn wife. marriage Raymond Carver
096a6ed I believe a woman, in order to be a good wife, must be (among other things) both sensual and maternal. marriage women Elisabeth Elliot
c000a8b Like so many substantial citizens of America, he had married young and kept on marrying, springing from blonde to blonde like the chamois of the Alps leaping from crag to crag. marriage humor trophy-wives P.G. Wodehouse
0ab7e72 They ought to find out how to vaccinate for love, like smallpox. marriage relationships Leo Tolstoy
dccf0d0 Yes, faith; it is my cousin's duty to make curtsy and say 'Father, as it please you.' But yet for all that, cousin, let him be a handsome fellow, or else make another curtsy and say 'Father, as it please me. marriage self-determination independence empowerment happiness love marriage-proposal matrimony dignity courtship husbands wooing pleasure William Shakespeare
c89acc1 What tale do you like best to hear?' 'Oh, I have not much choice! They generally run on the same theme - courtship; and promise to end in the same catastrophe - marriage. irony marriage women empowerment love disharmony subjection discord matrimony storytelling inequality gender courtship sarcasm Charlotte Brontë
6ae4ea5 It will be your duty, and it will be your pleasure too to estimate her (as you chose her) by the qualities that she has, and not by the qualities she may not have. marriage Charles Dickens
920f35b Revolution in Love'. Can you tell me what you mean by that? Do you want free love as against bourgeois marriage, or monogamy as against bourgeois promiscuity? marriage love promiscuity monogamy Milan Kundera
ff8bbde When his wife was at his side, she was also in front of him, marking out the horizon of his life. Now the horizon is empty: the view has changed. marriage Milan Kundera
be9b8d5 "I had that hole in me, that empty space. I could have lived my life with it, content enough. I wasn't an unhappy man."..................... The tears came now. He watched them drip down her cheeks, wondered if she were even aware they leaked out of her. "She was part of my life. You are my life. If I have a regret, it's that even for an instant you could think otherwise. Or that I allowed you to." -Roarke" -- marriage sadness fights regret J.D. Robb
45d91cd Although sex was something they both regarded as perilous, marriage had, by contrast, seemed safe- a safe house in a world of danger; the ultimate haven of two solitary, fearful souls. When you were single, this was what everyone who was already married was always telling you. Daniel himself had said it to his unmarried friends. It was, however, a lie. Sex had everything to do with violence, that was true, and marriage was at once a container for the madness between men and women and a fragile hedge against it, as religion was to death, and the laws of physics to the immense quantity of utter emptiness of which the universe was made. But there was nothing at all safe about marriage. It was a doubtful enterprise, a voyage in an untested craft, across a hostile ocean, with a map that was a forgery and with no particular destination but the grave. sex marriage love Michael Chabon
2988b10 I had my own bed. I slept in it alone, except for those times when we needed--not sex--but sex was how we got there. lovers marriage Amy Hempel
ec2e2ac She did understand, or at least she understood that she was supposed to understand. She understood, and said nothing about it, and prayed for the power to forgive, and did forgive. But he can't have found living with her forgiveness all that easy. Breakfast in a haze of forgiveness: coffee with forgiveness, porridge with forgiveness, forgiveness on the buttered toast. He would have been helpless against it, for how can you repudiate something that is never spoken? She resented, too, the nurse, or the many nurses, who had attended my father in the various hospitals. She wished him to owe his recovery to her alone--to her care, to her tireless devotion. That is the other side of selflessness: its tyranny. marriage selflessness Margaret Atwood
21c035e No marriage stays in the same pattern forever. It is both the best feature of marriage and the worst, that it inevitably changes. marriage patterns Lisa Kleypas
4d91af8 God bids you not to commit lechery, that is, not to have sex with any woman except your wife. You ask of that she should not have sex with anyone except you -- yet you are not willing to observe the same restraint in return. Where you ought to be ahead of your wife in virtue, you collapse under the onset of lechery. ... Complaints are always being made about men's lechery, yet wives do not dare to find fault with their husbands for it. Male lechery is so brazen and so habitual that it is now sanctioned [= permitted], to the extent that men tell their wives that lechery and adultery are legitimate for men but not for women. stereotypes marriage men women morality clichés fidelity wives social-norms misogyny hypocrisy double-standards gender sexuality Augustine of Hippo
2352fca She couldn't do any worse, but then, he couldn't do better. So maybe it balanced out. marriage romance Terry Pratchett
6ef7ccf He was persuaded he could know no happiness but in the society of one with whom he could for ever indulge the melancholy that had taken possession of his soul. marriage melancholy Horace Walpole
b06ae2c And even beyond the flaws, there are just some simple differences between Felipe and me that we will both have to accept. He will never--I promise you--attend a yoga class with me, no matter how many times I may try to convince him that he would absolutely love it. (He would absolutely not love it.) We will never meditate together on a weekend spiritual retreat. I will never get him to cut back on all the red meat, or to do some sort of faddish fasting cleanse with me, just for the fun of it. I will never get him to smooth out his temperament, which burns at sometimes exhausting extremes. He will never take up hobbies with me, I am certain of this. We will not stroll through the farmer's market hand in hand or go on a hike together specifically to identify wildflowers. And although he is happy to sit and listen to me talk all day long about why I love Henry James, he will never read the collected works of Henry James by my side--so this most exquisite pleasure of mine must remain a private one. marriage romance truth Elizabeth Gilbert
bd61090 We invented marriage. Couples invented marriage. We also invented divorce,mind you. And we invented infidelity,too, as well as romantic misery. In fact we invented the whole sloppy mess of love and intimacy and aversion and euphoria and failure. But most importantly of all, most subversively of all, most stubbornly of all, we invented privacy. marriage Elizabeth Gilbert
2f71f4b Has no one ever told you that it is the height of impropriety to kiss any gentleman, unless you have the intention of accompanying him immediately to the altar? marriage Georgette Heyer
44384c1 I've won his heart, but it's like owning a house in which most of the doors are permanently locked. He wants to shield me from all unpleasantness. And it's not really marriage--not like the marriage you have with Cam--until he's willing to share the worst of himself as well as the best of himself. marriage love Lisa Kleypas
8b82887 "Who should I send for now?" Using the last of his strength, Sebastian managed to drag her hand up to his mouth. "You," he whispered, holding her fingers to his lips. "Just you." marriage love sebastian-st-vincent Lisa Kleypas
5a4f25c Martha: Oh, I like your anger. I think that's what I like about you most. Your anger. marriage love Edward Albee
3b681ab Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage. marriage death humor love olivia twelfth-night wedding fool William Shakespeare
73a7e61 But Katie knew it was a sin, had known from the moment she made the decision to lie with Adam. However, the transgression wasn't making love without the sanction of marriage. It was that for the first time in her life, Katie had put herself first. Put her own wants and needs above everything and everyone else. marriage had-known saction transgression without-marriage first-time everyone needs making-love wants moment lie everything sin Jodi Picoult
05969a6 When love dies and marriage lies in ruins, the first casualty is honest memory, decent, impartial recall of the past. Too inconvenient, too damning of the present. It's the spectre of old happiness at the feast of failure and desolation. So, against that headwind of forgetfulness I want to place my little candle of truth and see how far it throws its light. marriage love truth memory Ian McEwan
14cd164 When I am actually willing to marry you, I will wear your earrings. Don't wait for it, Thief. marriage thief thieves Megan Whalen Turner
2d20ae2 And so, as quietly as he had lived, he slipped out of town, leaving only a note behind: Well, that's that. I'm off, and if you don't believe I'm leaving, just count the days I'm gone. When you hear the phone not ringing, it'll be me that's not calling. Goodbye, old girl, and good luck. Yours truly, Earl Adcock P.S. I'm not deaf. marriage vesta-adcock note leaving wife husband Fannie Flagg
e8ab94d I have made up my mind that I will never marry. I shall be wedded to my art. marriage humor L.M. Montgomery
f94dd8b Marriage isn't for the weak or lazy. It's work, and it should be. What would be the point otherwise? marriage J.D. Robb
4bbab05 For me, marriage should be about partnership. How can you love someone you have to take care of like a child all the time? A wife is supposed to be a partner, and yes partners help each other when they need it, but they are supposed to be together because they want to in my book, not because one needs the other. marriage love partnership Lynsay Sands
8dcbf84 I often wish I'd got on better with your father,' he said. But he never liked anyone who--our friends,' said Clarissa; and could have bitten her tongue for thus reminding Peter that he had wanted to marry her. Of course I did, thought Peter; it almost broke my heart too, he thought; and was overcome with his own grief, which rose like a moon looked at from a terrace, ghastly beautiful with light from the sunken day. I was more unhappy than I've ever been since, he thought. And as if in truth he were sitting there on the terrace he edged a little towards Clarissa; put his hand out; raised it; let it fall. There above them it hung, that moon. She too seemed to be sitting with him on the terrace, in the moonlight. marriage romance sadness love moon imagery melancholy Virginia Woolf
a657e26 I see,' agreed Rule. 'You are going to be the Sacrifice.' She looked up at him rather shyly. 'It c-can't signify to you, can it? Except that I know I'm not a Beauty, like L-Lizzie. But I have got the Nose, sir.' Rule surveyed the Nose. 'Undoubtedly, you have the Nose,' he said. Horatia seemed determined to make a clean breast of her blemishes. 'And p-perhaps you could become used to my eyebrows?' The smile lurked at the back of Rule's eyes. 'I think, quite easily.' She said sadly: 'They won't arch, you know. And I ought to't-tell you that we have quite given up hope of my g-growing any taller.' 'It would certainly be a pity if you did,' said his lordship. 'D-do you think so?' Horatia was surprised. 'It is a great trial to me, I can assure you.' She took a breath, and added, with difficulty: 'You m-may have n-noticed that I have a - a stammer.' 'Yes, I had noticed,' the Earl answered gently. 'If you f-feel you c-can't bear it, sir, I shall quite understand,' Horatia said in a small, anxious voice. 'I like it,'said the Earl. marriage Georgette Heyer
a2ea0c9 First, I'm not getting married, so you can forget the wife. Second, if I was insane enough to get married, I wouldn't have kids. Third, if I was insane enough to get married and have kids, it would be a cold day in hell I'd let you babysit. kids marriage love parents Jennifer Crusie
2b66124 "This is a woman you've known less than twelve hours. It took you a year to pick out a couch, but you're seriously--" "Yes," Roger said. "She's the one." marriage the-one Jennifer Crusie
164c106 Maybe the difference between first marriage and second marriage is that the second time at least you know you are gambling. marriage Elizabeth Gilbert
0035cc9 Yes, as Rhett had prophesied, marriage could be a lot of fun. Not only was it fun but she was learning many things. That was odd in itself, because Scarlett had thought life could teach her no more. Now she felt like a child, every day on the brink of a new discovery. marriage Margaret Mitchell
093b76b She'd either be a heartless mother and wife or a spineless enabler, when all she really wanted was the man she'd once believed him to be. marriage heartbreak choices-and-consequences Nicholas Sparks
08884ec You are no ruin sir--no lighting-struck tree: you are green and vigorous. Plants will grow about your roots, whether you ask them or not, because they take delight in your bountiful shadow; and as they grow they will lean towards you, and wind round you, because your strength offers them so safe a prop. illness marriage strength happiness love safety sickness Charlotte Brontë
664a44a Anna, falling in love with you was like coming home to a place I didn't realize I'd been missing all my life. You're the only person I've ever known who accepts me for who I am, right in this moment, faults and all, and isn't waiting for me to become someone else. marriage Jennifer Chiaverini
c6267ba "It's the same thing with faith, by the way." We don't want to get stuck having to go to services all the time, or having to follow all the rules. We don't want to commit to God. We'll take Him when we need Him, or when things are going good. But real commitment? That requires staying power---in faith and in marriage." And if you don't commit? I asked. "Your choice. But you miss what's on the other side." What's on the other side? "Ah." He smiled, "A happiness you cannot find alone." mitch-albom marriage religion god happiness Mitch Albom
7c19228 Marriage . . . is not a love affair; it is an ordeal. (92) marriage Joseph Campbell
4dbd6dc If [God] send me no husband, for the which blessing I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening ... marriage self-determination independence freedom empowerment happiness blessings matrimony husbands singles William Shakespeare
ab00394 I would rather not be engaged. When people are engaged, they begin to think of being married soon, and I should like everything to go on for a long while just as it is. marriage married George Eliot
a000118 "Wives?" she asked, interrupting him. For a moment, he had assumed she was tuning to the novel. Then he saw her waiting, suspicious eyes, so he replied cautiously, "None active," as if wives were volcanoes." marriage circumspection married-life wives separation husbands John le Carré
f2e0593 [In 16th century European society] Marriage was the triumphal arch through which women, almost without exception, had to pass in order to reach the public eye. And after marriage followed, in theory, the total self-abnegation of the woman. marriage men feminism women-s-rights history self-determination independence women empowerment wedlock subjugation self-abnegation married-life matrimony social-norms misogyny perception inequality gender Antonia Fraser
146da9f Things certainly aren't the way you imagine them when you're a kid and dreaming big dreams about what your life as a grown-up will look like. marriage relationships life Emily Giffin
7e7a560 "Interrupting what promised to be a long spate of fatherly advice, St. Vincent said in a clipped voice, "It's not a love match. It's a marriage of convenience, and there's not enough warmth between us to light a birthday candle. Get on with it, if you please. Neither of us has had a proper sleep in two days." Silence fell over the scene, with MacPhee and his two daughters appearing shocked by the brusque remarks. Then the blacksmith's heavy brows lowered over his eyes in a scowl. "I don't like ye," he announced. St. Vincent regarded him with exasperation. "Neither does my bride-to-be. But since that's not going to stop her from marrying me, it shouldn't stop you either. Go on." marriage humor wedding Lisa Kleypas
fa6677f Her chances of a decent marriage were about to be dashed-and all because of a ferret. marriage humor poppy spinster Lisa Kleypas
f476d90 He always thought that Touie's long illness would somehow prepare him for her death. He always imagined that grief anf guilt, if they followed, would be more clear-edged, more defined, more finite. Instead they seem like weather, like clouds constantly re-forming into new shapes, blown by nameless, unidentifiable winds. death-and-dying illness marriage death love death-of-a-loved-one Julian Barnes
9e37376 As he paid the hansom and followed his wife's long train into the house he took refuge in the comforting platitude that the first six months were always the most difficult in marriage. 'After that I suppose we shall have pretty nearly finished rubbing off each other's angles,' he reflected; but the worst of it was that May's pressure was already bearing on the very angles whose sharpness he most wanted to keep marriage Edith Wharton
be9de27 "For a long moment the butler sat in silence, his jaw hanging open. "I . . . my lord, I simply don't feel qualified to advise you about such matters." "Don't tell me that," Saint protested. "Tell me whether you can imagine me as a married man or not." To his surprise, the butler set aside his brandy snifter and sat forward. "My lord, I do not wish to overstep my bounds, but I have noticed a change in your demeanor of late. The question of whether anyone can imagine you married or not, however, is one I believe must be answered by you. And the lady, of course." Saint frowned. "Coward." "There is that, as well." marriage Suzanne Enoch
eb0444c What made more sense was that the bargain she was bound to was to go on living as she had been doing. The bargain was already in force. Days and years and feelings much the same, except that the children would grow up, and there might be one or two more of them and they too would grow up, and she and Brendan would grow older and then old. It was not until now, not until this moment, that she had seen so clearly that she was counting on something happening, something which would change her life. She had accepted her marriage as one big change, but not as the last one. So, nothing now but what she or anybody else could sensibly foresee. That was to be her happiness, that was what she had bargained for, nothing secret, or strange. Pay attention to this, she thought. She had a dramatic notion of getting down on her knees. This is serious... It was a long time ago that this happened. In North Vancouver, when they lived in the Post and Beam house. When she was twenty-four years old and new to bargaining. marriage wife mother Alice Munro
1e323e4 A man's world is different from a woman's world and a man's emotions are different from a woman's emotions and only marriage can bring the two different sets of emotions together properly. marriage relationship Sylvia Plath
eae0577 He spent the next weeks blocking scenes of the bureaucrat fucking his wife. On the floor with cooking ingredients. Standing, with socks still on. In the grass of the yard of their new and immense house. He imagined her making noises she never made for him and feeling pleasures he could never provide because the bureaucrat was a man, and he was not a man. he wondered. sex marriage humor Jonathan Safran Foer
d93eee8 It was a strange thing, to still be in love with your wife and to not know if you liked her. What would happen when this was all over? Could you forgive someone if she hurt you and the people you love, if she truly believed she was only trying to help? I had filed for divorce, but that wasn't what I really wanted. What I really wanted was for all of us to go back two years, and start over. Had I ever really told her that? marriage Jodi Picoult
a9a4b30 I want someone who will love me and touch me and understand me and let me take care of them, but beyond that, I don't know. marriage relationships love Jonathan Tropper
a66804a Many families remain for years in the same place, though both husband and wife are sick of it, simply because there is neither complete division nor agreement between them. marriage daily-life Leo Tolstoy
8a7bef0 It's a terrible thing for a man when his woman gangs up on him wi' a toad marriage wife husband toads Terry Pratchett
1b74e33 Your brother was a terrible traitor, I know, but if we start killing men at weddings they'll be even more frightened of marriage than they are presently. marriage men humour weddings George R.R. Martin
c6816d0 Yes: but aren't love and marriage notoriously synonymous in the minds of most women? Certainly very few men get the first without promising the second: love, that is--if it's just a matter of spreading her legs, almost any woman will do that for nothing. marriage women Truman Capote
086133b I can't help but notice that you keep writing love poetry to my wife. Well, you see, I married her, which makes her my wife. You know what you might want to try? Writing some poems about the sunset. The sunset isn't fucking married. marriage poetry A.J. Jacobs
822ee5e But miracles are not for the asking; they come only when the stern eyes of God droop shut for a moment, and Our Lady takes advantage of His inattention to grant an illicit mercy. God...is an Anglican, whereas Our Lady is of the True Faith; the two of Them have an uneasy relationship, unable to agree on anything, except that if They divorce, the Devil will leap gleefully into the breach. marriage faith religion miracles Michel Faber
4b9b803 But ultimately there comes a moment when a decision must be made. Ultimately two people who love each other must ask themselves how much they hope for as their love grows and deepens, and how much risk they are willing to take. It is indeed a fearful gamble. Because it is the nature of love to create, a marriage itself is something which has to be created, so that, together we become a new creature. To marry is the biggest risk in human relations that a person can take. If we commit ourselves to one person for life this is not, as many people think, a rejection of freedom; rather it demands the courage to move into all the risks of freedom, and the risk of love which is permanent; into that love which is not possession, but participation. It takes a lifetime to learn another person. When love is not possession, but participation, then it is part of that co-creation which is our human calling, and which implies such risk that it is often rejected. marriage Madeleine L'Engle
41a6840 ... the story of my marriage, which is the great joy and astonishment of my life, is too much like a fairy tale, the German kind, unsweetened by Disney. marriage Ann Patchett
c055931 "Suppose that a great commotion arises in the street about something, let us say a lamp-post, which many influential persons desire to pull down. A grey-clad monk, who is the spirit of the Middle Ages, is approached upon the matter, and begins to say, in the arid manner of the Schoolmen, "Let us first of all consider, my brethren, the value of Light. If Light be in itself good--" At this point he is somewhat excusably knocked down. All the people make a rush for the lamp-post, the lamp-post is down in ten minutes, and they go about congratulating each other on their unmediaeval practicality. But as things go on they do not work out so easily. Some people have pulled the lamp-post down because they wanted the electric light; some because they wanted old iron; some because they wanted darkness, because their deeds were evil. Some thought it not enough of a lamp-post, some too much; some acted because they wanted to smash municipal machinery; some because they wanted to smash something. And there is war in the night, no man knowing whom he strikes. So, gradually and inevitably, to-day, to-morrow, or the next day, there comes back the conviction that the monk was right after all, and that all depends on what is the philosophy of Light. Only what we might have discussed under the gas-lamp, we now must discuss in the dark." marriage politics philosophy moral-revolution skepticism G.K. Chesterton
1976638 If I had to marry someone, it wouldn't be a bossy little gal with a tongue like barbed-wire and a mind about as narrow. marriage bossy narrow-minded Jim Thompson
e43e3fd What do you mean, 'Angle of Repose?' she asked me when I dreamed we were talking about Grandmother's life, and I said it was the angle at which a man or woman finally lies down. I suppose it is; and yet ... I thought when I began, and still think, that there was another angle in all those years when she was growing old and older and very old, and Grandfather was matching her year for year, a separate line that did not intersect with hers. They were vertical people, they lived by pride, and it is only by the ocular illusion of perspective that they can be said to have met. But he had not been dead two months when she lay down and died too, and that may indicate that at that absolute vanishing point they did intersect. They had intersected for years, for more than he especially would ever admit. marriage love intersection life-lines resignation married-life parallels perspective matrimony separation pride Wallace Stegner
dde6a97 "Because the night you asked me, the small scar of the quarter moon had healed - the moon was whole again; because life seemed so short; because life stretched out before me like the halls of a nightmare; because I knew exactly what I wanted; because I knew exactly nothing; because I shed my childhood with my clothes - they both had years of wear in them; because your eyes were darker than my father's; because my father said I could do better; because I wanted badly to say no; because Stanly Kowalski shouted "Stella...;" because you were a door I could slam shut; because endings are written before beginnings; because I knew that after twenty years you'd bring the plants inside for winter and make a jungle we'd sleep in naked; because I had free will; marriage future love Linda Pastan
034605a Hortense was a wife; Valerie a mistress. Many men desire to have these two editions of the same work, although it is proof of deep inferiority in a man if he cannot make his wife his mistress. Seeking variety is a sign of impotence. marriage sex-and-men Honoré de Balzac
045a427 When I tell you not to marry without love, I do not advise you to marry for love alone - there are many, many other things to be considered. marriage family love Anne Brontë
f33072a It is not we as individuals, then, who must bend uncomfortably around the institution of marriage; rather, it is the institution of marriage that has to bend uncomfortably around us. marriage Elizabeth Gilbert
3695cff "Why is it a girl has to be so silly to catch a husband?" "Ah specs it's kase gempmums doan know whut dey wants. Dey jes' knows whut dey thinks dey wants. An' givin' dem whut dey thinks dey wants saves a pile of mizry an' bein' a ole maid. An' dey thinks dey wants mousy lil gals wid bird's tastes an' no sense at all. It doan make a gempmum feel lak mahyin' a lady ef he suspicions she got mo' sense dan he has." marriage men women lady Margaret Mitchell
bd5fb44 War and marriage and childbirth had passed over her without touching any deep chord within her and she was unchanged. war marriage gone-with-the-wind scarlett-o-hara feeling Margaret Mitchell
d2ea97d Never marry a person who is not a friend of your excitement. marriage passion love marriage-advice Nathaniel Branden
3d626f6 Love is giving, marriage is buying and selling. You can't put love into a contract. marriage Margaret Atwood
65de822 Love is a possible strength in an actual weakness. Marriage transforms a distraction into a support, the power of which should be, and happily often is, in direct proportion to the degree of imbecility it supplants. marriage Thomas Hardy
4fe71d8 There must be some other possibility than death or lifelong penance ... some meeting, some intersection of lines; and some cowardly, hopeful geometer in my brain tells me it is the angle at which two lines prop each other up, the leaning-together from the vertical which produces the false arch. For lack of a keystone, the false arch may be as much as one can expect in this life. Only the very lucky discover the keystone. marriage happiness love keystones married-life togetherness support matrimony harmony Wallace Stegner
fd470a4 Mort was hurt by this. It was one thing not to want to marry someone, but quite another to be told they didn't want to marry you. marriage Terry Pratchett
24067ff The fact is unalterable, that a fellow-mortal with whose nature you are acquainted solely through the brief entrances and exits of a few imaginative weeks called courtship, may, when seen in the continuity of married companionship, be disclosed as something better or worse than what you have preconceived, but will certainly not appear altogether the same. marriage relationships George Eliot
f9ac939 It isn't a bit of use my pretending I'm not crying, because I am... Pause to mop up. Better now. Perhaps it would really be rather dull to be married and settled for life. Liar! It would be heaven. marriage heaven Dodie Smith
5cd2415 [I]t is dangerous for a bride to be apologetic about her husband. marriage wives matrimony inferiority perception inequality husbands Wallace Stegner
5ed0338 But dear, you hate to sew. I will be married soon. Lady Thiel says a woman with needlework in her hands is generally assumed to have no other thoughts in her head and can safely harbor any number of improprieties. That will come in handy, especially when I'm married to a wizard. marriage needlework sewing Patricia A. McKillip
b70e988 Phoebus de Chateaupers likewise came to a 'tragic end': he married. marriage Victor Hugo
de38de3 We could have made it to the Arizona border in a few more hours if we hadn't been distracting each other with stupid little arguments. Don't get me wrong; I liked J.Lo fine. I've made that bed. But I'm not sure there's a person in the world I could be with twenty-four hours a day for three weeks without getting a little snippy. If I ever meet such a person, I'm marrying them. marriage humor ideal-partner Adam Rex
f78b20d "Not married until 33, Abraham Lincoln said, "A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that cannot hurt me." marriage singleness abraham-lincoln-quotes Shelby Foote
5997c69 Here it is. Let's say you're married, you love your wife, but you're attracted by another woman.' 'Excuse me, but I absolutely cannot understand how after eating my fill here I could go past a bakery and steal a roll. marriage Leo Tolstoy
3c71379 "In every possible instance Saint Paul begged Christians to restrain themselves to contain their carnal yearnings to live solitary and sexless lives on earth as it is in heaven. "But if they cannot contain " Paul finally conceded then "let them marry for it is better to marry than to burn." Which is perhaps the most begrudging endorsement of matrimony in human history." marriage humor corinthians st-paul Elizabeth Gilbert
f0f984b [Jo to her mother] I knew there was mischief brewing. I felt it and now it's worse than I imagined. I just wish I could marry Meg myself, and keep her safe in the family. marriage humor jo siblings Louisa May Alcott
fd80c2f In my work, I see couples who no longer wait for an invitation into their partner's interiority, but instead demand admittance, as if they are entitled to unrestricted access into the private thoughts of their loved ones sex marriage mating sexuality Esther Perel
1d5614e Loving the same man or woman all your life, why, that's like supposing the same candle could last you all your life marriage truth Leo Tolstoy
7876e02 I'm getting stale. I always do this time of year. I keep my nose to the grindestone and put in long hours and rustle up good meals and do all the chores and run errands and get along with people -- and have a fine time doing it and enjoy life. Then I realize, bang, that I'm tired and I don't want to wait on my family for a while and I wish I could go away somewhere and have people wait on me hand and foot, and dress up and go to restaurants and the theater and act like a woman of the world. I feel as if I'd been swallowed up whole by all these powerful DeVotos and I'd like to be me for a while with somebody who never heard the name. motherhood marriage identity housewifery Joan Reardon
4fb4ce7 In this martial world dominated by men, women had little place. The Church's teachings might underpin feudal morality, yet when it came to the practicalities of life, a ruthless pragmatism often came into play. Kings and noblemen married for political advantage, and women rarely had any say in how they or their wealth were to be disposed in marriage. Kings would sell off heiresses and rich widows to the highest bidder, for political or territorial advantage, and those who resisted were heavily fined. Young girls of good birth were strictly reared, often in convents, and married off at fourteen or even earlier to suit their parents' or overlord's purposes. The betrothal of infants was not uncommon, despite the church's disapproval. It was a father's duty to bestow his daughters in marriage; if he was dead, his overlord or the King himself would act for him. Personal choice was rarely and issue. Upon marriage, a girl's property and rights became invested in her husband, to whom she owed absolute obedience. Every husband had the right to enforce this duty in whichever way he thought fit--as Eleanor was to find out to her cost. Wife-beating was common, although the Church did at this time attempt to restrict the length of the rod that a husband might use. marriage feminism slavery history politics life serfdom eleanor-of-aquitaine medieval medieval-history royalty oppression Alison Weir
61b72c4 The obvious effect of frivolous divorce will be frivolous marriage. If people can be separated for no reason they will feel it all the easier to be united for no reason. marriage G.K. Chesterton
e779191 In oppressing, one becomes oppressed. Men are enchained by reason of their very sovereignty; it is because they alone earn money that their wives demand checks, it is because they alone engage in a business or profession that their wives require them to be successful, it is because they alone embody transcendence that their wives wish to rob them of it by taking charge... marriage truth Simone de Beauvoir
54e3c7f Recently, a lot of Americans have swapped the awkward phrase 'same-sex marriage' for the term 'marriage equality'. This phrase is ordinarily implied to mean that same-sex couples will have the rights different-sexed couples do. But it could also mean that marriage is between equals. That's not what traditional marriage was. Throughout much of history in the west, the laws defining marriage made the husband essentially an owner and the wife a possession. Or the man a boss and the woman a slave. marriage feminism marriage-equality the-west same-sex-marriage homosexuality heterosexuality Rebecca Solnit
9c25a75 Rosa Hubermann was sitting on the edge of the bed with her husband's accordion tied to her chest. Her fingers hovered above the keys. She did not move. She didn't ever appear to be breathing. marriage Markus Zusak
9cf2a16 May your heart be mine, may my heart be yours. May your sorrows be mine, may my joys be yours. marriage Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
57e7928 Sophy, strongly practical, could not feel that Mr. Fawnhope would make a satisfactory husband, for he lacked visible means of support, and was apt, when under the influence of his Muse, to forget such mundane considerations as dinner-engagements, or the delivery of important messages. marriage Georgette Heyer
7a3378c You must remember that you are my prime treasure (and always have been).' Emma Darwin to husband Charles marriage way-to-be tenderness Deborah Heiligman
f4b8293 ...but once more I say do as you please, for we women are born to this burden of being obedient to our husbands, though they be blockheads marriage women Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
fa8f438 "Yes, there is something in me hateful, repulsive," thought Ljewin, as he came away from the Schtscherbazkijs', and walked in the direction of his brother's lodgings. "And I don't get on with other people. Pride, they say. No, I have no pride. If I had any pride, I should not have put myself in such a position"." marriage love ljewin levin pride Leo Tolstoy
41568aa Marriage is a game. They (the anxious and powerful) set the rules. We (the ordinary and subversive) bow obediently before those rules. And then we go home and do whatever the hell we want anyhow. marriage Elizabeth Gilbert
099292d "The Buddha referred to married people as "householders." He even gave clear instructions as to how one should be a good householder: Be nice to your spouse, be honest, be faithful, give alms to the poor, buy some insurance against fire and flood . . . I'm dead serious: The Buddha literally advised married couples to buy property insurance." marriage Elizabeth Gilbert
961f31c marriage is about becoming a team. You're going to spend the rest of your life learning about each other, and every now and then, things blow up. But the beauty of marriage is that if you picked the right person and you both love each other, you'll always figure out a way to get through it understanding marriage love perseverence Nicholas Sparks
0b099b6 "Did you ever see so many pee-wee hats, Carl?" "They're beanies." "They call them pee-wees in Brooklyn." "But I'm not in Brooklyn." "But you're still a Brooklynite." "I wouldn't want that to get around, Annie." "You don't mean that, Carl." "Ah, we might as well call them beanies, Annie." "Why?" "When in Rome do as the Romans do." "Do they call them beanies in Rome?" she asked artlessly. "This is the silliest conversation..." marriage humor joy-in-the-morning betty-smith Betty Smith
cabce9e As a house can be only be built satisfactorily and durably when there is a foundation, and a picture can be painted only when there is something prepared to paint it on, so carnal love is only legitimate, reasonable, and lasting when it is based on the respect and love of one human being for another. sex marriage christianity love christian-marriage Leo Tolstoy
9d4a325 "We don't really want to get what we think that we want. I am married to a wife and relationship with her are cold and I have a mistress. And all the time I dream oh my god if my wife were to disappear - I'm not a murderer but let us say- that it will open up a new life with the mistress.Then, for some reason, the wife goes away, you lose the mistress. You thought this is all I want, when you have it there, you turn out it was a much more complex situation. marriage people philosophy Slavoj Žižek
faa9c9d The inscription in your wedding band says 'forever,' Callie. And it means forever. I'll love you until I close my eyes for the last time. And even afterward, I'll love you. marriage wedding-vows Diana Palmer
aac092c And - I think you know, don't you? - that I love you, Anne.' I feel as if I have been living in a loveless world for too long. The last tender face I saw was my father's when he sailed for England. 'You do? Truly?' 'I do.' He rises to his feet and pulls me up to stand beside him. My chin comes to his shoulder, we are both dainty, long-limbed, coltish: well-matched. I turn my face into his jacket. 'Will you marry me?' he whispers. 'Yes,' I say. marriage love match richard-iii Philippa Gregory
b57b08e The tears in my eyes are now running down my cheeks at the thought that I have been his wife and his bedfellow, his companion and his duchess, and even now, though he is near to death, still he does not love me. He has never loved me. He never will love me. marriage history women love unimportant objectification personhood objectification-of-women importance Philippa Gregory
e53c5b8 Often we fail to consider the fact that our social, spiritual, and intellectual interests are miles apart. Our value systems and goals are contradictory, but we are in love. marriage relationship love short-term-feeling successful-marriage falling-in-love Gary Chapman
c5410e8 There are answers which, in turning away wrath, only send it to the other end of the room, and to have a discussion coolly waived when you feel that justice is all on your own side is even more exasperating in marriage than in philosophy. marriage meekness patience George Eliot
7a296aa I suppose it was that in courtship everything is regarded as provisional and preliminary, and the smallest sample of virtue or accomplishment is taken to guarantee delightful stores which the broad leisure of marriage will reveal. But the door-sill of marriage once crossed, expectation is concentrated on the present. Having once embarked on your marital voyage, it is impossible not to be aware that you make no way and that the sea is not within sight--that, in fact, you are exploring an enclosed basin. marriage George Eliot
c0de4bb "Didn't Frankenstein get married?" "Did he?" said Eggy. "I don't know. I never met him. Harrow man, I expect." marriage public-school society P.G. Wodehouse
c00faac Let's go to bed. Those four words differentiate a marriage from every other kind of relationship. We aren't going to find a way to agree, but let's go to bed. Not because we want to, but because we have to. We hate each other right now, but let's go to bed. It's the only one we have. Let's go to our sides, but the sides of the same bed. Let's retreat into ourselves, but together. How many conversations had ended with those four words? How many fights? marriage love Jonathan Safran Foer
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