I love the way a simple quote can make me stop and think. I hope you enjoy the quotes below!
[note color=”#FCFB95″]Strike an average between what a woman thinks of her husband a month before she marries him and what she thinks of him a year afterward, and you will have the truth about him.— H.L. Mencken, A Book of Burlesques, 1916
(American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, and satirist; 1880-1956)[/note]
This quote certainly struck a chord with me! Before Eric and I got married, it seemed like he could do anything, and even if he couldn’t, I didn’t care because I felt such amazing warm fuzzies for him. After our first year of marriage, I realized that Eric had a sin nature, just like I did, and it was hard to swallow the fact that he wasn’t perfect. Stepping back and looking at the perfect man I married, and the imperfect man that showed up on our honeymoon (Eric has a similar story, I’m sure 🙂 ), it is clear that his true character lies somewhere in the middle. Your sweetheart is never as perfect as he or she seems before marriage, and they are seldom as bad as you perceive them during the difficult days.
[note color=”#FCFB95″]The bonds of matrimony are like any other bonds – they mature slowly.— Peter De Vries
(American editor and novelist, 1910-1993)[/note]
Just before getting married, my mom told me that the love I was feeling for Eric would change after we were married a while. It may not feel as new and breathtaking, but it will grow deeper and become more mature. The sad truth is that many couples experience the height of their intimacy on and around their wedding day. In actuality, the bond of marriage should continue to grow and mature throughout a couple’s life together and become much better with time. If care is given to the relationship, love should be deeper on the 10th anniversary than it was on the wedding day. It should be deeper on the 50th anniversary than it was on the 25th anniversary.
[note color=”#FCFB95″]Success in marriage does not come merely through finding the right mate, but through being the right mate.— Peter De Vries
(American editor and novelist, 1910-1993)[/note]
Many of us have heard this statement before – and I am here to tell you, it’s true! There are miserable people (mostly women, but some men) who have spent their entire marriage trying to change their spouse into the kind of spouse they would like. We’ve all had the pleasure of hearing imperfect people, who bask in their imperfections, discuss what they are looking for in a spouse, and how they won’t settle for less than their ideal mate. It’s tempting to laugh out loud when I hear these conversations. If such a perfect person existed, he or she would not be interested in the one dreaming of that person. We must all accept the fact that we are not perfect, and therefore, we don’t deserve someone perfect. All we can do is choose our spouse as wisely as possible; with the guiding of the Holy Spirit and wise counselors, and then do all we can to be the best spouse.
[note color=”#FCFB95″]Like good wine, marriage gets better with age – once you learn to keep a cork in it.— Gene Perret
(American comedy writer)[/note]
I love this one! Marriage does improve greatly when both parties learn when to keep their mouths shut. In the beginning of our marriage, I felt compelled to make sure Eric knew what was on my mind because I was afraid of bottling things up in an unhealthy way. After a few years of my mouth making matters worse, I learned when it’s necessary to speak, when it’s not necessary to speak, and how to speak when it is necessary to speak. Some things are better left unsaid!
[note color=”#FCFB95″]There is so little difference between husbands you might as well keep the first.— Adela Rogers St. Johns
(American journalist, novelist, and screenwriter, 1894-1988)[/note]
The lie permeating our society today is that if I’m not happy in this marriage, I should get out of it and try to find someone who will make me happy. I am not one to use explicatives, but if I did, I’d use them here. Nothing seems to boil my blood more than the notion our society is preaching, which says, “In order for me to find my happiness, I must destroy someone else. Not only someone else, but the very someone I vowed to love and honor until DEATH did us part.” No matter how amazing this new person may seem in comparison to your spouse, the guarantee is that he or she has so many of his or her own hang-ups that your current spouse is really no worse. We were never promised constant happiness. I’ve never met anyone who truly found happiness after dumping multiple spouses in search of the right one. However, I have met plenty of people who grew to be happy after sticking out the difficult times in their marriage.
If you have a favorite marriage or relationship quote, please let us know about it! My favorite marriage quote came from my eighty-eight year-old great uncle. He said, “Heather, be careful who you marry, because the only thing worse than being lonely… is wishing you were.” Such wisdom!
What are your favorite quotes on marriage and relationships?
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