The same is true in social relationships. Commitment in a relationship takes time.

When I met couples whose marriages were thriving after thirty and forty years, none of them were riding an emotional roller coaster of passion and then resentment. Instead, they loved each other as an act of their conscious will. They were more in control of their love than their "love" was in control of them.

I get this feeling sometimes that after the world ends, when God destroys all our buildings and our flags, we will wish we had seen everybody as equal, that we had eaten dinner with prostitutes, held them in our arms, opened up spare rooms for them, and loved them and learned from them.

We're all amateurs when it comes to love and relationships.

My faith teaches me that the path to join souls in love must of necessity involve a crucifixion, and I think there's a metaphor in there for marriage.

I suppose that's the point of this book. There's truth in the idea we're never going to be perfect in love but we can get close. And the closer we get, the healthier we will be. Love is not a game any of us can win, it's just a story we can live and enjoy. It's a noble ambition, then, to add a chapter to the story of love, and to make our chapter a good one.

Take heed, lest you are found at the left hand of Christ at last--a lost Episcopalian or a lost Presbyterian, a lost Baptist or a lost Methodist--lost because, with all your zeal for your own party and your own communion table, you never joined the one true Church.

The dynamics that are required to make any relationship work: Just keep putting your love out there.

Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible—it cannot be seen or measured— yet is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession ever could.

Marriages built on friendship are forever since they are built on companionship.

Her essay about the wedding ring was short. Kerr wrote: "Things are just things - they have no power to hurt or to heal. Only people can do that. And we can all choose whether to be hurt or healed by the people who love us." That was all. And that was everything.

Think lovingly, speak lovingly, act lovingly, and every need shall be supplied.