“Successful long-term relationships are created through small words, small gestures, and small acts. A lifetime of love is created every single day you are together. You can spend a lifetime being curious about the inner world of your partner, and being brave enough to share your inner world, and never being done discovering all there is to know about each other.”

“And the big secret to creating a love that lasts and grows over time is simple. Make dedicated, non-negotiable time for each other a priority, and never stop being curious about your partner.”

“Open-ended questions lead to conversations that will make you fall in love, or help you decide to make a long-term commitment, or keep you in love with the person you have chosen to spend your life with.”

“Decades of research show that the great relationships-the masters- are built on respect, empathy, and a profound understanding of each other.”

“In a relationship, commitment is a choice we make every single day, over and over again.”

“The fact is, couples that are truly committed to each other don’t have one foot out the door. They have invested everything in this one relationship. All their eggs are in one basket. They don’t threaten to leave when times get tough. And they don’t spend time thinking that their ideal partner is still out there somewhere, and that fantasy person will be easier to live with or more adept at meeting their needs than the very real, very human, very flawed person they chose to love, honor, and cherish.”

“If things aren’t going well in their relationship, they voice their concerns to their partner instead of complaining about their partner to someone else.”

“When you accept what you can’t change, you accept each other. Accept your partner for who they are, and they’ll do the same. Celebrate and learn from the differences.”

“Great sex is not rocket science. It’s very doable, but you have to be able to talk about it and you have to make it a priority in your relationship.”

“There’s one simple way to keep the passion flowing in your relationship-kiss. Kiss a lot. Kiss often. Kiss each time you leave each other, and each time you see each other again after being apart.”

“The truth is we’re all savers and spenders at different times, and stereotypes rarely help us come to any understanding about what money means to our partner that helps us in navigating money conflicts as they arise.”

“Having a conversation about your commitment to work and making money is just as important as your discussion about what commitment means in your relationship or marriage.”

“Great marriages require that each person gives their time and energy to the other partner. Whether you’re the spouse who’s overworking or the spouse who’s complaining about the overwork, it helps to have a conversation that explores both points of view.”

“When we, the authors, think about having children, we think about sacrifice and about love. When you welcome a child into your relationship you experience selflessness and a love that is profound.”

“John Gottman’s own longitudinal newlywed study found that for those couples who have a child within an average of four years after getting married, 67 percent have a precipitous drop in marital happiness in the first three year’s of the baby’s life. But a third of all couples who became parents didn’t have a drop in relational happiness. What John found out…was that the men who were more respectful to their wives, and more accepting of their wife’s influence or opinions, were more likely not to have a drop in marital satisfaction after children are born.”

“Our lives and relationships are better, brighter, and more fun when we remember to play, when we inject some adventure.”

“In every relationship, like in life, the only constant is change. The key is how each person in the relationship accommodates the growth of the other partner.”

“The world needs you to realize your dreams. In our dreams we find our greatest joy and discover the unique gifts we have to share with the world.”