No matter how solid your marriage or relationship is, things can get dicey when you add kids to the mix. In addition to having less sleep, money and free time, you have to worry about raising happy, healthy, well-adjusted people. No pressure there, parents! At the end of the day, it’s all worth it, but it’s completely normal to need some words of encouragement now and again.
From the things children need most from their parents to the choices moms and dads can make every day for their partners, here are 26 quotes about marriage and family from celebrities, authors and noteworthy people. Because a little change in perspective never hurt.
1. “Falling in love is great, but do you like each other? That’s kinda the question you gotta ask yourself, you know, going into it. We’ve always liked each other. We grow together. We learn from each other.” — Ryan Reynolds
2. “Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.” — Anne Frank
3. “People stay married because they want to, not because the doors are locked.” — Paul Newman
4. “When you have a baby, love is automatic. When you get married, love is earned.” — Marie Osmond
5. “I think that enduring, committed love between a married couple, along with raising children, is the most noble act anyone can aspire to.” — Nicholas Sparks
6. “A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten and the future worth living for.” — Unknown
7. “Your marriage doesn’t start when you say ‘I do.’ Your marriage starts when you look over at your partner and you want to kill ‘em … And then the next minute you say, ‘I love them more than anything.’” — Viola Davis
8. “Your children need your presence more than your presents.” — Jesse Jackson
9. “Good marriages push us — not to become someone else but to become the best version of ourselves.” — Jill Biden
10. “A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.” — Mignon McLaughlin
11. “To get the full value of joy, you must have someone to divide it with.” — Mark Twain
12. “Loving someone liberates the lover as well as the beloved. And that kind of love comes with age.” — Maya Angelou
13. “Before I got married, I had six theories about bringing up children. Now, I have six children and no theories.” — John Wilmot
14. “Marriage is a choice you make every day. You don’t do it because it’s easy. You do it because you believe in it. You believe in the other person.” — Michelle Obama
15. “Be present. To show up every day is kind of the most romantic part because you can bail at any moment.” — Maya Rudolph
16. “What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility.” — Leo Tolstoy
17. “Life is a crazy ride. It’s a privilege to go through it with a partner.” — Kristen Bell
18. “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” — Lao Tzu
19. “The greatest marriages are built on teamwork. A mutual respect, a healthy dose of admiration, and a never-ending portion of love and grace.” — Fawn Weaver
20. “Marriage is a mosaic you build with your spouse. Millions of tiny moments that create your love story.” — Jennifer Smith
21. “We do not develop habits of genuine love automatically. We learn them by watching effective role models — most specifically by observing how our parents express love for each other day in and day out.” — Josh McDowell
22. “A great marriage is not when the ‘perfect couple’ comes together. It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences.” — Dave Meurer
23. “A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.”— Robert Quillen
24. “Even when you have kids, never forget your relationship as partners and lovers.” — Chrissy Teigen
25. “Marriage requires effort and time and talking and connecting. You have to maintain it.” — Joanna Gaines
26. “When you end up happily married, even the failed relationships have worked beautifully to get you there.” — Julia Roberts
