Alain de Botton Quotes

In marriage, compromise nurtures the relationship.

Marriage is hard work, period.

A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband.

We all have a childhood dream that when there is love, everything goes like silk, but the reality is that marriage requires a lot of compromise.

I mean... in life... what relationship is easy?

To make a marriage work, you have to want to. If you want to stay with that person, you will. It's simple.

Everybody says love is about finding the person who is right for me and then everything will be fine. But it's not like that. It involves work. An old man tells you this!

Marriage takes work - it doesn't just happen.

To catch a husband is an art; to hold him is a job.

Staying focused is hard work and staying married is even harder.

I don't know what it takes to make marriage work, but I'm going to keep trying until I get it right. I haven't given up on love or marriage.

If love means never having to say you're sorry, then marriage means always having to say everything twice.

I don't care how handsome or fabulous or funny the groom is, or how sweet and accommodating the bride, or vice versa. Marriage is hard.

The secret to a long marriage is to stay gone.

Love is hard.

The trick to great romance is in overcoming adversity. In realizing that love is worth some uphill climbs.

Marriage ain't easy, but it's great most of the time.

One of the things you learn when you get married is how you need to always work on continuing to make it better.

What I've learned about marriage: You need to have each other's back; you have to be a kind of team going through life.

My advice to a new husband is nothing more than 'husbands, love your wives.' And 'love your wife as Christ has loved the church.' Never forget that you are Christ's representative in serving your wife.

I want children, but I don't necessarily want to be married because I think marriage is very difficult. To have a successful marriage, you have to work hard and regard it as a job.

A successful marriage is an edifice that must be rebuilt every day.

People say, 'What's the secret to a marriage?' There's no secret - I think you get lucky.

I had a very wise person tell me that he thinks marriage, when you're younger, you keep thinking you can fix things. That's what people do. And you can't really fix anything. It shouldn't be a massive difficult thing every day. Life's difficult enough.

I think that with marriages, people have to understand that you have to look at your marriage and understand what is needed in your marriage - not what people think your marriage should be or what people want your marriage to be.