Quotes About Commitment

There is such a thing as a Pentecost still to the disciples of Jesus; but it comes to him who has forsaken all to follow Jesus only, and in following fully has allowed the Master to reprove and instruct him.

Pray that He will make you willing to give up everything for the Christlike joy of the Father's constant presence.

You read poems about it, you hear stories about it, you hear Sicilians talk about being struck by lightning. We know there's no love of your life. Love isn't terrifying like that. It's walking the fucking dog so the other one can sleep in, it's doing taxes, it's cleaning the bathroom without hard feelings. It's having an ally in life. It's not fire, it's not lightning.

It turns out that you don't end up with the people you love; by definition, you end up with the ones who stay.

there's no love of your life. Love isn't terrifying like that. It's walking the fucking dog so the other one can sleep in, it's doing taxes, it's cleaning the bathroom without hard feelings. It's having an ally in life. It's not fire, it's not lightning.

Lovers don't leave if there's any hope at all.

What do you call a guy who you're sleeping with --Let's say you do that for nine years, you make breakfast and have birthday parties and arguments and wear what he tells you to wear, for nine years, and you're nice to his friends, and he's always at your place, but you know all the time it can't go anywhere, he's going to find someone, it won't be you, that's agreed on from the start, he's going to find someone and marry him -- what do you call that guy?

Why didn't he say yes? Freddy's voice from the past: You want me to stay here with you forever? Why didn't he say yes?

Arthur Less's life with Robert ended around the time he finished reading Proust. It was one of the grandest and most dismaying experiences in Less's life—Marcel Proust, that is—and the three thousand pages of In Search of Lost Time took him five committed summers to finish.

They might have done, many of them. So many people will do. But once you've actually been in love, you can't live with "will do"; it's worse than living with yourself.

have taught a high school English class for the best part of a decade, and graded homework every night, and woken up early in the morning to plan my lessons, and read and reread Shakespeare, and sat through enough conferences and meetings for even those in Purgatory to envy me.

They might have done, many of them. So many people will do. But once you've actually been in love, you can't live with will do; it's worse than living with yourself.

I have never ridden a camel. I have taught a high school English class for the best part of a decade, and graded homework every night, and woken up early in the morning to plan my lessons, and read and reread Shakespeare, and sat through enough conferences and meetings for even those in Purgatory to envy me.

We know there's no love of your life. Love isn't terrifying like that. It's walking the fucking dog so the other one can sleep in, it's doing taxes, it's cleaning the bathroom without hard feelings. It's having an ally in life. It's not fire, it's not lightning.

But once you've actually been in love, you can't live with "will do"; it's worse than living with yourself.

The problem in the world is that we aren't kind to one another. It's kindness and human spirit that drives us. We have one another. That's all we have. We must celebrate them. Remember that. I don't care who you love, but if you love someone…if you love someone, you have to love them every day. You have to choose them every day.

America, how's your marriage? Your two-hundred-fifty-year-old promise to stay together in sickness and in health? First thirteen states, then more and more, until fifty of you had taken the vow. Like

somebody has to catch the mouse. So here's my proposal. You be the strong one Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. And I'll be the strong one Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

Don't we all look at our beloveds sometimes and think, Why do I stay? Why do we stay? There is something vital in staying.

You're going to the wedding, apparently. - I'm reading a poem at the wedding [of his to be ex husband]

Life is enriched by difficulty; love is made more acute when it requires exertion.

If it [talent] isn't strong enough to take the gaff of real training, then it's not worth much.

So here's where we have to start if we are going to live as flourishing families in an age of easy everywhere: we are going to have to decide, together, that nothing is more important than becoming people of wisdom and courage. We are going to have to commit to make every major decision, and many small decisions, on the basis of these questions: Will this help me become less foolish and more wise? Will this help me become less fearful and more courageous?

I like a man who takes his violence seriously.