Bruce North

“Is anybody really ready to get married? I doubt it. Nobody's ready for marriage. Marriage makes you ready for marriage!”
― Schnarch David, Passionate Marriage

“Intimacy is knowing who you are and letting someone else in on the secret.”
― Dr. David Schnarch

“When marriages fail, it is not increasing conflict that is the cause. It is decreasing affection and emotional responsiveness...”
― Sue Johnson, Hold Me Tight

“We now know that love is, in actuality, the pinnacle of evolution, the most compelling survival mechanism of the human species. Not because it induces us to mate and reproduce. We do manage to mate without love! But because love drives us to bond emotionally with a precious few others who offer us safe haven from the storms of life. Love is our bulwark, designed to provide emotional protection so we can cope with the ups and downs of existence. This drive to emotionally attach — to find someone to whom we can turn and say “Hold me tight” — is wired into our genes and our bodies. It is as basic to life, health, and happiness as the drives for food, shelter, or sex. We need emotional attachments with a few irreplaceable others to be physically and mentally healthy — to survive.”
― Sue Johnson, Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love