Below you’ll find a collection of marriage quotes that we think have important messages and maybe even some humor. The quotes are through different eyes and time periods and come from experts and even from those who have failed at marriage.
The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.
–Theodore Hesburgh
To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.
–Mark Twain
Any marriage can be saved and any marriage can be lost. It all comes down to whether or
not a couple will stop doing the things that harm a marriage and start doing the things that
build a marriage.
–Joe Beam, Internationally recognized marriage expert
We heard this at a wedding: ‘If you are going to argue, argue naked.’
–Peg and Harry Williams, Nashville, TN
Research has shown a child who sees his mother mistreated is more damaged than
if the child himself is abused.
–Steven Stosny
One dollar up front prevents the spending of many dollars down the road.
–Marion Wright Edelman, Children’s Defense Fund
You need only do three things in this country to avoid poverty – finish high school,
marry before having a child, and marry after the age of 20. Only 8 percent of the families
who do this are poor; 79 percent of those who fail to do this are poor.
–William Galston, Clinton White House
We took our time [preparing for marriage], we looked forward to it; didn’t
want to run into something and have nothing to count on but love…
–Aunt May, Spider-Man 3, 2007
I got gaps; you got gaps; we fill each other’s gaps.
–Rocky, Played by Sylvestor Stallone
What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how
compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility.
–Leo Tolstoy
Love is what you’ve been through with somebody.
–James Thurber
When asked his secret of love, being married fifty-four years to the same
person, he said, “Ruth and I are happily incompatible.”
–Billy Graham
I have always considered a marriage as the most interesting event of one’s life,
the foundation of happiness or misery.
–George Washington, Letter to Burwell Bassett, May 23, 1785
Marriage is popular because it combines the maximum of temptation with the
maximum of opportunity.
–George Bernard Shaw
Getting married is like permanently grafting your hand to the cookie jar. No matter
how sweet those cookies may taste, you can’t help but wonder what would have happened
if you’d chosen some other dessert–brownies, for instance…or frozen yogurt…or maybe
chocolate strudel.
–Jerome P. Crabb, Marriage Quotes and Quibbles
Wives are young men’s mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men’s nurses.
–Francis Bacon, Essays
A man doesn’t know what happiness is until he’s married. By then it’s too late.
–Frank Sinatra, The Joker is Wild
Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other or ever so similar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life.
–Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
I always compare marriage to communism. They’re both institutions that don’t conform to
human nature, so you’re going to end up with lying and hypocrisy.
–Bill Maher, Rolling Stone, August 24, 2006
When a man marries a woman, they become one–the trouble starts when they try to decide
which one.
–Croft M. Pentz, The Complete Book of Zingers
Marriage has some thorns, but celibacy has no roses.
–Vernon K. McLellan, Wise Words and Quotes
One of the great struggles a man faces in his life is to gather the courage to reach out to his own wife. But if we touch all else, and never reach our own, we will die with heavy hearts and empty hands. Stretch out your arms; she is generally closer than she appears.
–T.D. Jakes
Marriage: A friendship recognized by the police.
–Robert Louis Stevenson
Marriage Quotes from the Bible
Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
-Genesis 2:24
But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
-1 Corinthians 7:2-5
Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
-1 Corinthians 13:4-7
The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife.
Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
-1 Corinthians 7:3-5 (New Living Translation)
He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.
–Jesus Christ, Matthew 19:8-9
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for each other.
-1 John 3:16
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
-Ephesians 5:21
He who finds a wife finds what is good.
–Solomon, Proverbs 18:22
…each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
-Ephesians 5:25-33
If your marriage is in danger of separation or divorce, call us at (866) 903-0990 to speak with someone or use the form below to request more information about our Marriage Helper workshop for troubled marriages. We can help you save your marriage even in cases of infidelity, loss of trust, anger, sexual problems, and other issues. (If you’re thinking your spouse would never come, contact us by phone or the form below and we’ll tell you what others who felt the same way did to get their spouses there.) We will keep everything you tell us completely confidential. Our motivation is to help you determine if this workshop is right for you and your particular situation. We also offer solutions for couples who can’t attend the workshop.
