LDS Quotes on Marriage
“I have strong feelings about what is not provocation for breaking the sacred covenants of marriage. Surely it is not simply ‘mental distress’ or ‘personality differences’ or having ‘grown apart’ or having ‘fallen out of love.’ This is especially so where there are children.”
| Conference Report, Apr. 1993, 46; or Ensign, May 1993, 36–37
“Keep yourselves above any domineering or unworthy behavior in the tender, intimate relationship between husband and wife. Because marriage is ordained of God, the intimate relationship between husbands and wives is good and honorable in the eyes of God. He has commanded that they be one flesh and that they multiply and replenish the earth.”
“Tenderness and respect—never selfishness—must be the guiding principles in the intimate relationship between husband and wife. Each partner must be considerate and sensitive to the other’s needs and desires. Any domineering, indecent, or uncontrolled behavior in the intimate relationship between husband and wife is condemned by the Lord”
| Conference Report, Oct. 1994, 68; or Ensign, Nov. 1994, 51
“There is nothing more noble or more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye and keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends.”
“Even though Sexcan be an important and satisfactory part of married life, we must remember that life is not designed just for sex. Even marriage does not make proper certain extremes in sexual indulgence. To the Ephesian saints Paul begged for propriety in marriage: ‘So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.’”
| Miracle of Forgiveness, 73
“Marriage can be more an exultant ecstasy than the human mind can conceive. This is within the reach of every couple, every person.”
“I know of no single practice that will have a more salutary effect upon your lives than the practice of kneeling together as you begin and close each day. Somehow the little storms that seem to afflict every marriage are dissipated when, kneeling before the Lord, you thank him for one another, in the presence of one another, and then together invoke his blessings upon your lives, your home, your loved ones, and your dreams. God than will be your partner, and your daily conversation with him will bring peace into your hearts and a joy into your lives that can come from no other source. Your companionship will sweeten through the years; your love will strengthen. Your appreciation will grow.”
| Ensign, June 1971, p. 72
“A good marriage requires time. It requires effort. You have to work at it. You have to cultivate it. You have to forgive and forget. You have to be absolutely loyal one to another.”
“A happy marriage is not so much a matter of romance as it is an anxious concern for the comfort and well-being of one’s companion.”
| What God Hath Joined Together
“God has brought us together as families to bring to pass His eternal purposes. We are part of this plan in this marriage relationship. Let us love and respect and honor one another. We can do it, and we will be the better for it.”
| Stand a Little Taller
“Marriage, in its truest sense, is a partnership of equals, with neither exercising dominion over the other, but, rather, with each encouraging and assisting the other in whatever responsibilities and aspirations he or she might have.”
“Marriage provides an ideal setting for overcoming any tendency to be selfish or self-centered.”
| The Eternal Blessings of Marriage
“We are doing all we know how to do to stamp out this terrible evil. When there is recognition of equality between the husband and the wife, when there is acknowledgment that each child born into the world is a child of God, then there will follow a greater sense of responsibility to nurture, to help, to love with an enduring love those for whom we are responsible.
No man who abuses his wife or children is worthy to hold the priesthood of God. No man who abuses his wife or children is worthy to be a member in good standing in this church. The abuse of one’s spouse and children is a most serious offense before God, and any who indulge in it may expect to be disciplined by the Church.”
| “What Are People Asking about Us?” Ensign, November 1998, p. 72
“Marriage is the preserver of the human race. Without it, the purposes of God would be frustrated; virtue would be destroyed to give place to vice and corruption, and the earth would be void and empty.”
| Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. [1939], 272.
“All of us, young and old, will do well to realize that attitude is more important than the score. Desire is more important than the score. Momentum is more important than the score.”
| "Who's Losing?" General Conference, October 1974
“Marriage is not just spiritual communion; it is also remembering to take out the trash.”
“Adam wandered alone in the glorious Garden in Eden, which he had dressed and adorned… for sin was not yet in the world. Through all this magnificence Adam wandered, lonely, unsolaced, uncompanioned, the only being of his kind in the whole world, his life unshared in a solitude of exquisite elegance, and, what was of far greater moment, his mission, as he knew it to be, impossible of fulfillment, except the Father gave him an helpmeet.”
| Selected Papers on Religion, Education, and Youth
“Dating has become the accepted form of social recreation for the purpose of getting acquainted before young people can safely have a serious interest in each other. Because the selection of a mate in life is so extremely important, we should intelligently seek the experiences which will help us to make that great decision”
| Youth of the Noble Birthright, pp. 101-109. Salt Lake City, 1960