They are all alike you know. They hold their tongues for years and you think you're safe, but when the opportunity comes they remember everything.
Edith WhartonRead
As he paid the hansom and followed his wife's long train into the house he took refuge in the comforting platitude that the first six months were always the most difficult in marriage. 'After that I suppose we shall have pretty nearly finished rubbing off each other’s angles,' he reflected; but the worst of it was that May's pressure was already bearing on the very angles whose sharpness he most wanted to keep
Interpretation
Marriage often begins with challenges that couples must navigate together.
This quote reflects the initial struggles that couples face during the early stages of marriage. It suggests that the first six months can be particularly difficult as partners learn to understand and adapt to each other's differences. The mention of 'rubbing off each other’s angles' symbolizes the compromises and adjustments needed in a relationship, highlighting the tension between personal identity and marital harmony.
In practice
This quote can be used in a wedding speech to emphasize the journey of marriage.
They are all alike you know. They hold their tongues for years and you think you're safe, but when the opportunity comes they remember everything.
They seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if they had surprised a butterfly in the winter woods
Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.
And I wonder, among all the tangles of this mortal coil, which one contains tighter knots to undo, & consequently suggests more tugging, & pain, & diversified elements of misery, than the marriage tie.
There are two ways to spread happiness; either be the light who shines it or be the mirror who reflects it.
The real loneliness is living among all these kind people who only ask one to pretend!
The moment love becomes a relationship, it becomes a bondage, because there are expectations and there are demands and there are frustrations, and an effort from both sides to dominate. It becomes a struggle for power.
Children show scars like medals. Lovers use them as secrets to reveal. A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh.
A man must have a good share of wit himself to endure a great share in another.
This devaluing of listening is handed down from generation to generation. There are many children who don't have the experience of being listened to by their parents.
Isn’t the most sensitive point of this mourning the fact that I must lose a language — the amorous language? No more ‘I love you’s.
As prevalent as loneliness is, many people don't recognize that people that they know may very well be suffering from loneliness. It's important for many reasons, one of which is that it has a profound impact on health.
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