Some quotes from things I have recently found insightful or helpful.

The state of marriage is one that requires more virtue and constancy than any other. It is a perpetual exercise of mortification. From this thyme plant, in spite of the bitter nature of its juice, you may be able to draw and make the honey of a holy life. — Francis de Sales

Marriage is the operation by which a woman’s vanity and a man’s egotism are extracted without anesthetic. — Helen Rowland

Marriage is the greatest test in teh world…but now I welcome the test instead of dreading it. It is much more than a test of sweetness of temper, as people sometimes think; it is a test of the whole character and affects every action. — T.S. Eliot

One of the best wedding gifts God gave you was a full-length mirror called your spouse. Had there been a card attached, it would have said "Here’s to helping you discover what you’re really like!" — Gary and Betsy Ricucci

If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket–safe, dark, motionless, airless– it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. — C.S. Lewis

Christian marriage presumes a certain degree of self-disclosure…This reality can be terrifying to contemplate. Dating is largely a dance in which you always try to put your best face forward–hardly a good preparation for the inevitable self-disclosure implied in marriage. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if many marriages end in divorce largely because one or both partners are running from their own revealed weaknesses as much as they are running from something they can’t tolerate in their spouse. — Gary Thomas, Sacred Marriage

A man who says "I’ve never loved you" is a man who is saying essentially this: "I’ve never acted like a Christian." — Gary Thomas, ibid.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it. — God, The Bible, Ephesians 5:25