Have you ever wondered what it takes to make a marriage last? I know I have.
If it was possible, I’d ask every spouse in a successful marriage what their secret is. So here are some quotes about marriage and love that take a deep dive into that topic.
I do my very best to make sure that these quotes align with my faith but I also acknowledge that these are people with normal opinions and human experiences. Even so, there is great truth in it and you may find it as encouraging as I have.
“All my adult life I’ve felt drawn to ask long-married couples how they were able to stay together. All of them said the same thing: ‘We worked hard at it.'”
randy pausch
“It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.”
friedrich nietzsche
“To be fully seen by somebody, then, and be loved anyhow – this is a human offering that can border on miraculous.”
elizabeth gilbert
“I don’t want to be married just to be married. I can’t think of anything lonelier than spending the rest of my life with someone I can’t talk to, or worse, someone I can’t be silent with.”
mary ann shaffer
“No woman want to be in submission to a man who isn’t in submission to God!”
t.d. jakes
“When in a relationship, a real man doesn’t make his woman jealous of others, he makes others jealous of his woman.”
steve maraboli
“Aim high, but do not aim so high that you totally miss the target. What really matters is that he will love you, that he will respect you, that he will honor you, that he will be absolutely true to you, that he will give you the freedom of expression and let you fly in the development of your own talents. He is not going to be perfect, but if he is kind and thoughtful, if he knows how to work and earn a living, if he is honest and full of faith, the chances are you will not go wrong, that you will be immensely happy.”
gordon b. hinckley
“It takes three to make love, not two: you, your spouse, and God. Without God people only succeed in bringing out the worst in one another. Lovers who have nothing else to do but love each other soon find there is nothing else.”
fulton j. sheen
Quotes about marriage and love
“There are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: If you don’t respect the other person, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don’t know how to compromise, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can’t talk openly about what goes on between you, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don’t have a common set of values in life, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike.”
mitch albom
“No long-term marriage is made easily, and there have been times when I’ve been so angry or so hurt that I thought my love would never recover. And then, in the midst of near despair, something has happened beneath the surface. A bright little flashing fish of hope has flicked silver fins and the water is bright and suddenly I am returned to a state of love again – til next time.
I’ve learned that there will always be a next time, and that I will submerge in darkness and misery, but that I won’t stay submerged. And each time something has been learned under the waters; something has been gained; and a new kind of love has grown. The best I can ask for is that this love, which has been built on countless failures, will continue to grow. I can say no more than that this is a mystery, and gift, and that somehow or other, through grace, our failures can be redeemed and blessed.”
madeleine l’engle
“To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loves is, well, a lot like being loved by God.”
timothy j. keller
“What greater thing is there for two human souls, than to feel that they are joined for life – to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be one with each other in silent unspeakable memories at the moment of the last parting?”
george eliot
“If you want to see God do wonders in your marriage, start praising your spouse. Start appreciating and encouraging her. Every single day, a husband should tell his wife, “I love you. I appreciate you. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.” A wife should do the same for her husband. Your relationship would improve immensely if you’d simply start speaking kind, positive words, blessing your spouse instead of cursing him or her.”
joel osteen
“A great marriage is not when the ‘perfect couple’ comes together. It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences.”
dave meurer
“A good marriage is where both people feel like they’re getting the better end of the deal.”
anne lamott
“The only way love can last a lifetime is if it’s unconditional. The truth is this: love is not determined by the one being loved but rahter by the one choosing to love.”
stephen kendrick
“The problem with marriage is that it ends every night after making love, and it must be rebuilt every morning before breakfast.”
gabriel garcia marquez
“There is nothing more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends.”
homer
“Love is a commitment that will be tested in the most vulnerable areas of spirituality, a commitment that will force you to make some very difficult choices. It is a commitment that demands that you deal with your lust, your greed, your pride, your power, your desire to control, your temper, your patience, and every area of temptation that the Bible clearly talks about. It demands the quality of commitment that Jesus demonstrates in His relationship to us.”
ravi zacharias
“What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are but how you deal with incompatibility.”
leo tolstoy
“The remedy for most marital stress is not in divorce. It is in repentance and forgiveness, in sincere expressions of charity and service. It is not in separation. It is in simple integrity that leads a man and a woman to square up their shoulders and meet their obligations. It is found in the Golden Rule, a time-honored principle that should first and foremost find expression in marriage.”
gordon b. Hinckley
quotes about marriage and love
“Love without sacrifice is like theft.”
nassim nicholas taleb
“Always remember that the most important thing in a good marriage is not happiness, but stability.”
gabriel garcia marquez
“In a word, live together in the forgiveness of your sins, for without it no human fellowship, least of all a marriage, can survive. Don’t insist on your rights, don’t blame each other, don’t judge or condemn each other, don’t find fault with each other, but accept each other as you are, and forgive each other every day from the bottom of your hearts…”
dietrich bonhoeffer
“‘Soul mates’ are fiction and an illusion; and while every young man and young woman will seek with all diligence and prayerfulness to find a mate with whom life can be most compatible and beautiful, yet it is certain that almost any good man and any good woman can have happiness and a successful marriage if both are willing to pay the price.”
spencer w. kimball
“Patience gives your spouse permission to be human. It understands that everyone fails. When a mistake is made, it chooses to give them more time that than they deserve to correct it. It gives you the ability to hold on during the rough times in your relationship rather than bailing out under the pressure.”
stephen kendrick
“Sexiness wears thin after awhile and beauty fades, but to be married to a man who makes you laugh every day, ah, now that is a treat.”
joanne woodward
“Real, sane, mature love – the kind that pays the mortgage year after year and picks up the kids after school – is not based on infatuation but on affection and respect.”
elizabeth gilbert
“Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing… You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or
c.s. lewis
“The true measure of a man is how he treats you when others are not looking.”
alessandra torre
“Marrying means to halve one’s rights and double one’s duties.”
arthur schopenhauer
Quotes about marriage and love
“I think of how each person in a marriage owes it to the other to find individual happiness, even in a shared life. That this is the only way to grow together, instead of apart.”
emily giffin
“Love is an act of endless forgiveness; a tender look which becomes a habit.”
peter ustinov
“There are four pillars to a happy marriage: respect one another as individuals; give soft answers; practice financial honesty; conduct family prayer.”
gordon b. hinckley
“In any relationship, there will be frightening spells in which your feelings of love dry up. And when that happens you must remember that the essence of marriage is that it is a convenant, a commitment, a promise of future love. So what do you do? You do the acts of love, despite your lack of feeling. You may not feel tender, sympathetic, and eager to please, but in your actions you must BE tender, understanding, forgiving and helpful.
And, if you do that, as time goes on you will not only get through the dry spells, but they will become less frequent and deep, and you will become more constant in your feelings. This is what can happen if you decide to love.”
timothy j. keller
“God has brought us together as families to bring to pass His eternal purposes. We are part of this plan in this marriage relationship, let us love and respect and honor one another. We can do it, and we will be the better for it.”
gordon b. hinckley
“Many marriage would be better if the husband and wife clearly understood that they’re on the same side.”
zig ziglar
“A good marriage is one which allows for change and growth in the individuals and in the way they express their love.”
pearl s. buck
“There must be a stronger foundation than mere friendship or sexual attraction. Unconditional love, agape love, will not be swayed by time or circumstances.”
stephen kendrick
“The essential matrimonial facts: that to be happy you have to find variety in repetition; that to go forward you have to come back to where you begin.”
jeffrey eugenides
“Unless I understand the Cross, I cannot understand why my commitment to what is right must be precedence over what I prefer.”
ravi zacharias
Quotes about marriage and love
“Eve was not taken out of Adam’s head to top him, neither out of his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected by him, and near his heart to be loved by him.”
matthew henry
“The heart is like a woman, and the head is like a man, and although man is the head of woman, woman is the heart of man, and she turns man’s head because she turns his heart.”
peter kreeft
“A successful marriage requires falling in love many time – always with the same person.”
mignon mclaughlin
“Marriage is like a well-built porch. If one of the two posts leans too much, the porch collapses. So each must be strong enough to stand on its own.”
deb caletti
“When we love someone our love becomes demonstrable or real only through our exertion – through the fact that for that someone (or for ourself) we take an extra step or walk an extra mile. Love is not effortless. To the contract, love is effortful.”
m. scott peck
“Remember that children, marriages, and flower gardens reflect the kind of care they get.”
h. jackson brown jr.
“The moment we decide to throw more energy into fighting for our mate than with him, the crack of a fist on the enemy’s jaw splits the ears of angels.”
beth moore
quotes about marriage and love
“The Puritan ethic of marriage was first to look not for a partner whom you do love passionately at this moment but rather for one whom you can love steadily as your best friend for life, then to proceed with God’s help to do just that.”
j.i. packer
“… When Jesus looked down from the cross, he didn’t think ‘I am giving myself to you because you are so attractive to me.’ No, he was in agony, and he looked down at us – denying him, abandoning him, and betraying him – an in the greatest act of love in history, he STAYED.”
…That is why I am going to love my spouse. Speak to your heart like that, and then fulfill the promises you made on your wedding day.”
timothy j. keller
“Love is not maximum emotion. Love is maximum commitment.”
sinclair b. ferguson
