“Love everyone and forgive everyone, including yourself. Forgive your anger. Forgive your guilt. Your shame. Your sadness. Embrace and open up your love, your joy, your truth, and most especially your heart.”— Jim Henson, chicagonow.com
“Does your ex remind you of your old anniversary, or about that place both of you used to go to all the time? If your ex clings onto to all the old memories and constantly finds a way to talk about those special times, they want you to remember the same moments too. And in all probability, they’re do…”— Cheryl James, lovepanky.com
“To love and win is the best thing. To love and lose is the next best.”— William Makepeace Thackeray, amazon.com
“There's no changing your mind about whom you love. That's part of the tough thing about being in love—it's sort of undeniable.”— Piper Perabo, getinspired365.com
“In a dating and courtship relationship, I would not have you spend five minutes with someone who belittles you, one who is constantly critical of you, one who is cruel at your expense and may even call it humor. Life is tough enough without the person who is supposed to love you leading the assault…”— Jeffrey R. Holland, lds.org
“Many of us choose relationships of affection and care that will never become loving because they feel safer. The demands are not as intense as loving requires. The risk is not as great. So many of us long for love but lack the courage to take risks. Even tough we are obsessed with the idea of love t…”— Bell Hooks, huffingtonpost.com
“A guy and a girl can be just friends, but at one point or another, they will fall for each other. Maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong time, maybe too late, or maybe forever.”— 500 Days of Summer, amazon.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
“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
“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
“Tough love is real love. Why? Because it's never easy. It hurts the giver far more than the receiver.”— Bobby W. Miller, successories.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
“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
“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
“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
“I stayed because I loved her, and she seemed genuinely remorseful. It never happened again. Sometimes people do things they regret. Sometimes people deserve second chances. When you forgive somebody of something, you have to actually stop letting it affect how you treat that person. That doesn’t mea…”— Anonymous Guy, huffingtonpost.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
“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
“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
“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