Nicholas Sparks Quotes

Every relationship you have, you're learning and growing and taking something from that.

I've tried to recognize my wife's individuality, her personality, her desires, her background, her ambitions.

At one time or another, we have all faced the temptation to disconnect by giving someone the silent treatment. After being married to Joel for more than twenty-one years, I have learned that is not the best way to handle a disagreement.

How do you conduct an intimate relationship where no one ever loses it? Where no one ever lashes out, where no one ever smacks anyone in the mouth?

We're quite volatile as individuals, but that doesn't work exponentially when we are together. Relationships are about eating humble pie.

I don't fight with people - like, I can barely fight with my husband because I'll just start crying instead.

There is no such thing as emotional incompatibility. There are only misunderstandings and mistakes which can easily be set right if we have the will to do so.

Marriage is a reflection of your life in general: how you treat people, how you argue, how secure you are in your own thoughts. How vehemently do you argue your point of view? With what disdain do you view the other's point of view?

It's better to be happy than right. Practice saying "Yes, dear" and "You're Right". The more you say those words, the happier your marriage will be.

If you want to keep the relationships you have, it's best not to talk about them.

I have always believed that the key to a happy marriage was the ability to say with a straight face, 'Why, I don't know what you're worrying about. I thought you were very funny last night and I'm sure everybody else did, too.

If a relationship is going to work, it will require compromise and, even then, it is not always going to end the way you want it to.

Marriage isn't a contest to see who is most often right. Marriage requires being what the Japanese call 'the wise bamboo,' which means you bend so you don't break. Treat your spouse with the flexibility and respect you would give to a top client. Think how we treat clients; We smile, we are polite, we listen to their ideas. Never forget that your spouse is your most important client.

Being a successful couple was learning what you were willing to compromise on, and what you weren't; learning when to stand your ground, and when to give it up; what was truly important enough to fight over, and what was just you being pissy. You learned each other's hot buttons, the places that hurt, or angered, when you pressed them. Love makes you learn where all the pitfalls are, and how to avoid them, or how to set them off.

My wife would say my worst habit is that I'm not good at dropping subjects. If something bothers me, I'll bring it up endlessly and relentlessly. I think it's a search for clarity, but she uses different words.

The best piece of advice I received before I got married was, "Be careful what you say when you're in a fight, because it could stick in someone's head." I don't think I've ever said anything I really regretted. I'm very sympathetic to women. I've really studied wife-ology, and I know you've got to figure out the feelings. Deal with the feelings.

Politics is not really different from marriage. You cannot get things done in your relationship if you tell your wife: Look, if you haven't made the bed and if you don't get the food on the table, I will go and just hire someone and you will become irrelevant. That is not how you make a marriage work.

I've spent my life navigating through sensitive issues. Not wanting to upset people.

No, you're not allowed to be bossy when you're married. You have to learn compromise, and compassion and patience.

But I think that sensitivity is also a good counsellor when it comes to enforcing one's interests.

If I hadn't read all of Jane Austen and DH Lawrence, Tolstoy and Proust, as well as the more fun stuff, I wouldn't know how to break bad news, how to sympathise, how to be a friend or a lover, because I wouldn't have any idea what was going on in anybody else's mind.

After 45 years of marriage, when I have an argument with my wife, if we don't agree, we do what she wants. But, when we agree, we do what I want!

My wife and I do not argue. We communicate. We talk. But we've never fought in our entire relationship.

I can definitely be tough when pushed. In relationships, you have to take a stand for who you are and how you're willing to be treated.

The thing is, every relationship is different, and when you start talking about your problems, other people tend to talk about theirs.