11 Quotes by Manis Friedman

It's like the old question, "Do you lock your house to keep people out, or to protect what's inside?" Should a person act modestly and dress modestly in order to prevent intrusion from the outside, undesirable things from happening, or to preserve and maintain what is inside: the delicate and sensitive ability to have and maintain an intimate relationship.

Our emotions can be either corrupted or elevated. Human love was not created to be without premeditated purpose.

If you help yourself to the benefits of being married when you are single, you’re likely to help yourself to the benefits of being single when you’re married.

The purpose of modesty is not to hide ourselves from view; the purpose of modesty is to preserve our intimacy.

In marriage, the kind of love that is useful is a love that has more to do with the right attitude or the right approach to the relationship rather than the kind of love that is concentrated on “feelings.” Intimacy flourishes in an atmosphere that is permeated with kindness, respect, and sanctity. True love grows within that atmosphere as well.

The loving person doesn’t wait. He doesn’t react; he initiates. He has a capacity to love.

The mistake is that married couples don’t need increased physical pleasure or better physical pleasure. What we need is closeness. Even more than that, we need oneness. We want and need the joy of intimacy.

What the Jewish teachings say is that the unique attraction between men and women originates from a desire to be whole again, to reunite two parts of one adam. It is unnatural to be alone, for God originally created the two as one. Their separation is an unnatural imposition, and thus they are told to seek one another and overcome this unnatural state.

It’s true you can’t get everything you want from one person, but then, who says you need everything? Where did you get the idea you deserve everything? The issue is not what you deserve. The issue is, whom are you here to serve? Yourself, or your spouse? Yourself, or God?