Marriage, each of them realized intuitively, was about compromise and forgiveness. It was about balance, where one person complemented the other.

There can be no living together without understanding, and understanding means compromise. Compromise is not a dirty word, it is the cornerstone of civilization, just as politics is the art of making civilization work. Men do not and cannot and hopefully will never think alike, hence each must yield a little in order to avoid war, to avoid bickering. Men and women meet together and adjust their differences, this is compromise. He who stands unyielding and immovable upon a principle is often a fool, and often bigoted, and usually left standing alone with his principle while other men adjust their differences and go on.

Marriage has taught me that it is just a union of two imperfect persons seeking perpetually to make sacrifices and understand each other.

Compromise? Of course we compromise. But compromise, if not the spice of life, is its solidity. It is what makes nations great and marriages happy and Spruce Manor the pleasant place it is.

Marriage: a hopeful, generous, infinitely kind gamble taken by two people who don't know yet who they are or who the other might be, binding themselves to a future they cannot conceive of and have carefully omitted to investigate.

A good marriage is, at least, one part conspiracy.

Compromise is but the sacrifice of one right or good in the hope of retaining another – too often ending in the loss of both.

In a marriage you need 'compatibility of conscience'.

Two men as two women and as a man and a woman can have a loving relationship and make a commitment. And that's what marriage is about.

In marriage you are not sacrificing yourself to the other person. You are sacrificing yourself to the relationship.

The art of compromise centers on the willingness to give up something in order to get something else in return. Successful artists get more than they give up.

A good marriage is supposed to be one where each spouse secretly thinks he or she got the better deal.

Marriage is two imperfect people committing themselves to a perfect institution, by making perfect vows from imperfect lips before a perfect God.

if you don't respect the other person, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don't know how to compromise, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can't talk openly about what goes on between you, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you have different set of values in life, you're gonna have a lot of trouble.Your values must be alike. And the biggest of those values... the belief in the importance of your marriage.