Quotes About Relationships

Michael told me that he designs the "how" part of his actions "with the other person's point of view in mind." Even when breaking off with an asshole, he works to "convey the truth in respectful and empathetic ways.

it's sometimes wise to add rather than remove communication barriers—and physical distance is one of the most protective barriers.

In the 1970s, MIT professor Tom Allen showed that the closer people sat to one another, the more frequently they communicated—not just face-to-face communication, but via all media including telephone calls.

He sought out and surrounded himself with people that he trusted to tell him the truth (rather than what he hoped to hear) about the severity and nuances of challenges that he and the company faced—and when he was screwing up.

It's sound social psychology because, as I wrote in The No Asshole Rule, "The more time and effort that people put into anything—no matter how useless, dysfunctional, or downright stupid it might be—the harder it is for them to walk away, be it a bad investment, a destructive relationship, an exploitive job, or a workplace filled with browbeaters, bullies, and bastards.

Better yet, combine your warmth and flattery with requests that they do a small favor or two FOR YOU. This strategy is akin to what author David McRaney calls "the Benjamin Franklin effect," which is based on experiments that show we come to like people that we do nice things for and to dislike people that we treat unkindly.

the key to self-awareness isn't found inside our heads; it's in discovering and accepting how others see us—even when it hurts.

Safe is a word that goes much better with sex than science."14

But flattery, smiles, and other signs of appreciation (even if not entirely sincere) can be useful for convincing volatile and vindictive people to tamp down their inner angst and anger—so they won't take it out on you.

People who love their enemies should, at least, tell the truth about their friends.

The hypermature man wants laughter, warmth, and closeness, but doesn't know how to achieve them and has difficulty letting himself go long enough to try. Change is slow for him, and he needs a patient partner who can see a great person behind the seriousness. Besides, he will never let you down.

Family life demands emotional doseness. For many silent sons emotional closeness is stressful, even if they want it more than anything else.

The silent treatment can be very frustrating to us, not to mention the effect it has on others. Most of us know when we are doing it; few of us know how to stop it. I buried my feelings for years, but if a feeling is strong enough it mill eventually surface. My family has paid the price.

As a boy, the conflict avoider saw many arguments, but never any resolution. This left him with the wrong idea not only about arguments, but also about relationships. He thought that there was no such thing as a healthy argument. He learned that he hated conflict, so he became the peacemaker. Reconciling conflicting parties—or keeping the peace—

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. – Genesis 2:24

Romans 12:18 If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone.

For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. – Romans 14:7

Knowing what types of people and problems give you difficulty is the first step toward avoiding psychological vulnerability.

The manager comes to see all relationships with others by a strict utilitarian calculus and, insofar as he dares, breaks friendships and alliances accordingly.

Gypsies make difficult friends for ordinary people, and he was seething of a gypsy.

In a way, women were asking for men to be poets and driving, passionate lovers at the same time.

Parte del problema, pensó, era la inercia de la costumbre prolongada. Todos los matrimonios, todas las relaciones son susceptibles a ella. La costumbre trae lo predecible, y lo predecible a su vez trae sus propias ventajas; eso también lo percibía

American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy paints a bleak picture: Many families in the United States are touched by divorce. The current divorce rate is calculated to be between 40 and 60% for those recently married and up to 10% higher for remarriages.

the difficult question these feminists raised: In women's experience, how much consensual sex is consented to but not wanted? How much consensual sex is consented to out of fear? Out of insecurity? How much consensual sex is consented to simply because the woman finds it easier to have sex than to try to communicate with the man about her emotional state at the moment?