24 Quotes That Prove Even The Biggest Fuckboy Is Capable Of Change

“Thinking back on the way I treated women as a young adult, I can’t believe I ever got laid. But I did. A lot. Then at 28, I got laid off from my job as an advertising exec. Walking home midday, in the depressingly empty streets, I realized that I had nothing. Sure, I had a few thousand dollars saved…”

— Anonymous Guy, thoughtcatalog.com

“In the end, taking a cheating spouse back is a difficult decision to make. But in some cases, surprisingly, doing so can completely change the relationship for the better.”

— Opal Stacie, madamenoire.com

“All I have to do is remember the expression on my girlfriend’s face the first and only time she caught me cheating. She was so fucking crushed, it killed me. And then she managed to forgive me. I don’t want to do that to her ever again. She deserves so much better.”

— Anonymous Guy, thoughtcatalog.com

“Ultimately, it wasn't the kids who kept us together; it was that there was still love in the relationship—and there was a sense of deeply knowing him. I knew, in my core, that this was a mistake, not a personality flaw. And the fact that he was clearly in pain and willing to do whatever it took gave…”

— Naomi Chrisoulakis, prevention.com

“After the revelation of an affair, some couples have the most passionate sex they’ve ever had. That’s a big, unspoken truth. There’s something about the fear of loss that triggers desire and a depth of conversation that helps some people access a new level of honesty.”

— Esther Perel, insidehook.com

“If he’s committed to making this work, then I’m going to trust that he knows better than to be reckless with this relationship again. It’s about rebuilding trust, too. I made the choice to trust that he can change and give him another shot.”

— Savannah Hemmings, thefrisky.com

“My inner fuckboy took a one-way trip to another universe exactly 123 days ago, when I decided to stop being a dick because I met a girl who deserves the best. She's the love of my life, and I plan on giving her my personal best for the long haul.”

— Anonymous Guy, thoughtcatalog.com

“We had the benefit of a fabulous counselor who helped us work through the fallout of infidelity. Who taught my husband how to just be with me in my pain and accept responsibility without flinching. She showed us how to rebuild a marriage based on honesty and transparency. She made it clear that no m…”

— Anonymous Woman, yesandyes.org

“If the person you are interested in has made mistakes in past relationships and admits to them, and also acknowledges that these poor choices hurt the people he or she cared about, then that is a good beginning. Assuming that you believe that this person is sincere, this acceptance of responsibility…”

— eHarmony, eharmony.com

“I’ll never do it again. But it’s not like I’ve had some ethical reawakening. All that sneaking around will drive a man crazy after a while. Even if you’re in a bad place in your marriage, the deceit will weigh on you and it’s just not worth it in the end. My exploits will probably send me to the gra…”

— Anonymous Guy, thoughtcatalog.com

“It would be foolish not to take the circumstances into consideration. Was the person who cheated on you someone with whom you were in a long-term relationship and the cheating was a one-night stand under the influence of alcohol? That would be much different than if it was someone you'd only just st…”

— Dr. Ruth Westheimer, articles.chicagotribune.com

“I want to change. I’m totally in love with her and I want to marry her and I want her to be the mother of my children and I want to be the man that I always wanted to be. I never imagined myself cheating on my wife, and I don’t plan on doing that. And I haven’t cheated on her since we’ve gotten enga…”

— Anonymous Guy, nymag.com

“All marriages are alike to the degree that confronting an affair forces the couple to reevaluate their relationship, but dissimilar in how the couple lives with the legacy of that affair. I already knew the marriages I was tracing in these follow-up interviews had survived; now I wanted to assess th…”

— Esther Perel, estherperel.com

“A few years ago I was dating lots of women simultaneously, ditching anyone who demanded ‘girlfriend status’ and literally picking their replacement on Tinder the next day. I actually logged girls into my phone with notes about what they looked like because it got too hard to remember who was who. On…”

— Anonymous Guy, thoughtcatalog.com

“You used to be a cheater. You’re not one now. Here’s the rule: Once you cheat, you MUST know why it happened so that it will NEVER happen again. You didn’t cheat because you’re a horrible person. You cheated because you couldn’t deal with horrible feelings. Cheating is just a symptom of something de…”

— Harlan Cohen, harlancohen.com

“Change requires developing a new set of beliefs and a whole new philosophy. Developing ones mindset. That was the journey that I embarked upon. Becoming the best me that I could be did not include lying, stealing, or cheating. Not being a cheater is simply a byproduct of being the person that I have…”

— Cliff Townsend, goodmenproject.com

“One day a few months back my little sister came home from school balling. I asked her what was up and she said this guy she’d been crushing on who’d been flirting with her non-stop suddenly stopped Snapping her back and refused to acknowledge her in the hallway—like it was nbd. I wanted to kill the…”

— Anonymous Guy, thoughtcatalog.com

“You see the question is not "Can I ever trust him again"? but rather, "What contributed to this person's choice to betray me - why did they choose infidelity"? The first question is an unanswerable one as trusting your partner following an affair has more to do with YOU and how YOU choose to respond…”

— Jay Kent-Ferraro, psychologytoday.com

“It's crucial to figure out why you cheated in the first place in order to prevent it from happening again. For example, after a few weeks of therapy post ex-breakup, it became clear to me that one of my biggest emotional triggers is when someone cancels plans on me at the last minute. So, in my curr…”

— Rebecca Santiago, bustle.com

“We don’t know the exact numbers because people lie about sex and 10 times more about adultery. But the vast majority of people we come into contact with in our offices are content in their marriages. They are longtime monogamists who one day cross a line into a place they never thought they would go…”

— Esther Perel, slate.com

“Deciding if you can trust your boyfriend after he betrayed you is one of the most difficult – and perhaps one of the most important – decisions you’ll ever make. Nobody can tell you if he’ll never cheat on you again. You need to listen to the still small voice inside you, and take a leap of faith.”

— Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen, theadventurouswriter.com

“It’s not that I’m that good of a guy, but I hate discomfort and there’s nothing more awkward than having to face your girlfriend one-on-one after feeling some other chick up or crossing some kind of boundary, however far you go. Believe, I know—but I’m a changed guy now. I don’t cheat because I know…”

— Anonymous Guy, thoughtcatalog.com

“You don't have to be a jerk to be adulterous — a lot people cheat purely because they aren’t happy in the relationship. Not everyone can have the mature ‘I don’t think this is working out’ talk. Some people take another way out. Because nothing says ‘I'm not satisfied in my relationship’ like bangin…”

— Brian Whitney, bustle.com

“Whether we like to admit it or not, getting drunk and hooking up with strangers is a pretty big part of what our generation likes to do on the weekends. In no way does that make cheating okay, but it does make it easier to forgive. How harshly can we really judge a twenty-year old guy who has only e…”

— Jessica Pena, studybreaks.com