You have now reached infatuation’s final destination—the complete and merciless devaluation of self.

This is what intimacy does to us over time. That's what a long marriage can do: It causes us to inherit and trade each other's stories. (p.237)

The inability to open up to hope is what blocks trust, and blocked trust is the reason for blighted dreams.

Also, I could finally sleep. And this was the real gift, because when you cannot sleep, you cannot get yourself out of the ditch--there's not a chance.

Marriage is a strange combination of dream and reality, and we spend our lives as couples trying to negotiate that divide.

I've ruined my eyes, I've ruined my health from my studiousness!

The resting place of the mind is the heart.