Gary Chapman

The fastest way to have a loving, supportive, understanding spouse is to become a loving, supportive, understanding spouse. ”

I wish I'd known that apologizing is a sign of strength. I had the impression that if you apologize, it's a sign of weakness. I kind of picked up the message from my father, 'Real men don't apologize. You just do your best, and if you happen to hurt some people, that's their fault. You just go on. Don't apologize. That's a sign of weakness.' ”

That is the idea that good Christians don't talk about sex, at least not out loud, and certainly not in the church. I want to say that both of those ideas are fallacious. ”

It was God's idea to make us male and female. And God's the one that instituted marriage. ”

It is universal to give gifts as an expression of love. My academic background is anthropology, the study of cultures. We have never discovered a culture where gift-giving is not an expression of love. ”

Love is a spiritual grace. We learn it from God. ”

The human race could not go on without reproduction, and marriage creates the most secure environment in which to raise children. ”

The desire for romantic love in marriage is deeply rooted in our psychological makeup. ”

If you want to improve a relationship, it's not that you demand your spouse to change. You have to ask, 'Where did I fail in this relationship?' ”

I remember, in the early days of my marriage, I thought I married the wrong person. We held to our own ideas of what the other should be and do, but neither of us lived up to those expectations. ”