#age

Two human beings anchored to one another are like two ships shaken by waves; their carcases collide with one another and creak. ↗

— André Maurois

#marriage

Every persisting marriage is based on fear', said Peregrine. 'Fear is fundamental, you dig down in human nature and what's at the bottom? Mean spiteful cruel self-regarding fear, whether it makes you to put the foot in it or whether it makes you to cower... ↗

— Iris Murdoch

#marriage

When I reach out, you take my hand.  When I smile, you mirror the expression. When I triumph, you glory as if it were your own. When I fail, you point to the light at the end. When I need, you tenderly provide. When I cry, you kiss away my tears. When I suffer,  you bleed. And you wonder why I love you? ↗

— Richelle E. Goodrich

#devotion #giving #love #love-story #lovers

It seems almost oxymoronic to believe that this new idealism has led to a new pessimism about marriage, but that is exactly what has happened. In generations past there was far less talk about "compatibility" and finding the ideal soul mate. Today we are looking for someone who accepts us as we are and fulfills our desires, and this creates an unrealistic set of expectations that frustrates both the searchers and the searched for. ↗

— Timothy Keller

#marriage #love

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. ↗

— Charlotte Brontë

#courtship #discord #disharmony #empowerment #gender

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. ↗

— Elizabeth Gilbert

#marriage #love

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". ↗

— Leo Tolstoy

#levin #ljewin #love #marriage #pride

The importance of falling in love lies not in how it feels, but in what it perceives. And as always with our feelings, the key moral issue is how truthful the perception is... Falling in love is a sign that this might be someone with whom you could make a good marriage. Still, it's not enough, because the feeling is not always as perceptive as it should be... So falling in love is not the basis for a good marriage. It's not even a requirement. Marriage does not depend on falling in love; it depends on the promises you make to each other in your wedding vows and then spend a lifetime keeping. As many people have pointed out, you can't promise how you'll feel. But you can promise to cultivate a virtue, such as the virtue of love. ↗

— Phillip Cary

#love #marriage #virtue #vows #love

I never would have conceived that he would finally succumb to marriage. How did you ever convince him?” “I must actually credit Lady Russell. She explained to me that a man desires above all things to think himself his own master. Thus, I had only to convince Marcus that marrying me was entirely his own idea.” -A BREACH OF PROMISE ↗

— Victoria Vane

#erotic-romance #historical-romance #marriage

The punishment of vertical rending was given to those who had destroyed marriages to satisfy their own lust. ↗

— Cindy Pon

#fury-of-the-phoenix #infidelity #marriage