This post’s title comes from Ralph Waldo Emerson. I saw it and thought it would be a good title for another post of quotes!
“You can measure the happiness of a marriage by the number of scars that each partner carries on their tongues, earned from years of biting back angry words.” — Elizabeth Gilbert, Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage
When you are furious, that is the best time not to speak. Take some time away from the situation and breathe, pray, and calm down. After settling down, return to your spouse and rationally work through the problem. You can come back to an argument and work through it, but you can never fully take back angry, hurtful words.
“A great marriage is not when the ‘perfect couple’ comes together. It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences.” — Dave Meurer
When Eric and I were first married, I did not think I would ever learn to love some of our differences. Though I still don’t adore all of our differences, I have come to see the value in many of them. If we were exactly the same, we couldn’t learn from each other, sharpen each other, or bring unique perspectives to our marriage.
“I know enough to know that no woman should ever marry a man who hated his mother.” — Martha Gellhorn, Selected Letters
No matter how lovingly he treats you now, he will eventually treat you the way he treats his mother. If he disregards and disrespects her, he will disregard and disrespect you. If he adores and reveres her, he will adore and revere you.
“Finding a life partner is like choosing a bed. You need one as a friend either in times of health or sickness. Freshness or weariness. Happiness or sadness. And we can be certain that we’ve picked the right one without having to sleep with it first.” — Isman H. Suryaman
The attitude of the world is that you can’t commit to one person for the rest of your life without sleeping with him/her first. I’ve heard it compared to test driving a car. Sex is one of many components of marriage, and one that improves so drastically with practice and repetition; so, when someone believes testing sexual compatibility is a requirement to move towards engagement, its proof positive that his or her priorities are severely out of focus – not to mention the contents of his or her heart.
“When in a relationship, a real man doesn’t make his woman jealous of others, he makes others jealous of his woman.” — Steve Maraboli
Amen! And this does not only go for men, but for women too. Trying to make your spouse jealous and insecure only goes to expose your deep insecurities.
What’s your favorite marriage quote?