More Than Two Quotes

“Almost always, jealousy is rooted in some sort of fear: of abandonment, of being replaced, of losing the attention of someone you love, of being alone. Jealousy isn't really about the person you feel jealous of. It's about you: your feeling that you might lose something precious.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A practical guide to ethical polyamory

“You'll need courage because polyamorous relationships can be scary. Loving other people without a script is scary. Allowing the people you love to make their own choices without controlling them is scary. The kind of courage we're talking about involves being willing to let go of guarantees - and love and trust your partners anyway.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“Be flexible. Be compassionate. Rules can never cure insecurity. Integrity matters. Never try to script what your relationships will look like. Love is abundant. Compatibility matters. You cannot sacrifice your happiness for that of another. Own your own shit. Admit when you fuck up. Forgive when others fuck up. Don't try to find people to stuff into the empty spaces in your life; instead, make spaces for the people in your life. If you need a relationship to complete you, get a dog. It is almost impossible to be loving or compassionate when all you feel is fear of loss. Trust that your partners want to be with you, and that if given the freedom to do anything they please, they will choose to cherish and support you. Most relationship problems can be avoided by good partner selection. Nobody can give you security or self-esteem; you have to build that yourself.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A practical guide to ethical polyamory

“So we have two choices: embrace and love what we have and feel joy as deeply and fully as we can, and eventually lose everything—or shield ourselves, be miserable…and eventually lose everything.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A practical guide to ethical polyamory

“Polyamory can feel threatening because it upsets our fairy-tale assumption that the right partner will keep us safe from change. Polyamory introduces the prospect of chaos and uncertainty into what's supposed to be a straightforward progression to bliss. But a healthy relationship must first of all be resilient, able to respond to the changes and complexity life brings. Nor is happiness actually a state of being. It is a process, a side effect of doing other things. The fairy tale tells us that with the right partner, happiness just happens. But happiness is something we re-create every day. And it comes more from our outlook than from the things around us.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A practical guide to ethical polyamory

“Things will go wrong. You and your partners will make mistakes. People will get hurt. To paraphrase Voltaire, we are all born of frailty and error. What happens afterward depends on how capable we are to forgive one another for our errors, handle the consequences with grace and dignity, and learn from our mistakes.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A practical guide to ethical polyamory

“We propose a different metric for the success of a relationship. Relationships that make us the best versions of ourselves are successes.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“The difference between "boundaries we set for ourselves" and "rules we place on someone else" might just seem like one of semantics, but it is profound. Rules tend to come from the idea that it's acceptable, or even desirable, for you to control someone else's behavior, or for someone else to control yours. Boundaries derive from the idea that the only person you really control is yourself.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A practical guide to ethical polyamory

“is critical for that relationship to be consensual. You must give your partner the opportunity to make an informed decision to be in a relationship with you. If you lie or withhold critical information, you remove your partner's ability to consent to be in the relationship.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A practical guide to ethical polyamory

“Marcia Baczynski has put it, "If you're afraid to say it, that means you need to say it." When we are feeling most raw, most vulnerable, most scared of opening up, those are the times we most need to open up. We can't expect others to respect our boundaries and limits if we don't talk about them or, worse, pretend they don't exist.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“We know we're expecting a great deal of courage by suggesting that you start exploring polyamory without relying on rules to feel safe. It does seem that the secret to healthy, dynamic relationships keeps coming back to courage. Forget training wheels. Forget trying to figure the right rules that will keep you safe forever ; there is no safe forever. Instead, go into the world seeking to threat others with compassion whenever you touch them. Try to leave people better than when you found them. Communicate your needs. Understand and advocate for you boundaries. And look for other people who will do the same. Trust them when they say they love you; where communication and compassion exist, you don't need rules to keep you safe. We don't learn how to be compassionate by disenfranchising other people; we learn how to be compassionate by practicing compassion.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“Practicing security means continually turning towards the best version of yourself.”
― Eve Rickert, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“It's possible to be single and poly. It's possible to have only one partner and be poly. If your intention is to remain open to the possibility of multiple romantic relationships, you are polyamorous regardless of your current relationship status. Indeed, if polyamory is part of your identity (for some people, it is; for others, it isn't), you might be in a monogamous relationship and still be poly.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A practical guide to ethical polyamory

“Many conflict-resolution professionals stress the value of curiosity, accompanied by active listening. Many conflicts can be avoided or de-escalated if the parties involved are willing to set aside their prejudgments—and the intense feelings connected to them—and ask a question. And then be curious about the actual answer. Not just any question, though. The question should be genuine and open-ended, a serious request for more information about another person's feelings, intentions or motivations. It should not be a choice between predefined alternatives, or an accusation followed by a demand for a response. It should be, as much as possible, unburdened from what you think will be the answer. That means being curious about what it really is.”
― Eve Rickert, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“There are many toxic myths about love, but perhaps the worst is that "love conquers all." This myth hurts us in all kinds of ways -- such as the untold zillions of hours and wasted tears spent by people trying to heal, reform or otherwise change a partner. Especially pernicious is the idea that we're supposed to "give until it hurts" -- in fact, for some of us, that the measure of our worth is our ability to give, right down to the last drop of ourselves. That is wrong. Love isn't supposed to hurt, and we should not and do not need to sacrifice our selves for good relationships.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“Jealous feelings come from a sense of loss, or a fear of it.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“Above all else, trust that you don't have to control your partner, because your partner, given the freedom to do anything, will want to cherish and support you. And always, always move in the direction of greatest courage, toward the best possible version of yourself. Strong,”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“The key with boundaries is that you always set them around those things that are yours: your body, your mind, your emotions, your time, intimacy with you. You always have a right to regulate access to what is yours. But by the time the boundaries of your self have become blurred with those of your partner, setting boundaries and defining your self feels like taking something away from her that she had come to regard as hers.”
― Eve Rickert, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“In monogamy, a romantic partner and a sexual partner are, almost by definition, the same person. Emotional intimacy and physical intimacy are so tightly entwined that some self-help books speak of "emotional infidelity" and encourage married couples not to permit each other to become too close to their friends. Advice columnists and television personalities will speak gravely of the dangers that "emotional affairs" pose to a monogamous marriage and ask, "Is emotional infidelity worse than sexual infidelity?" Monogamy can leave surprisingly little room for close friendships, much less nonsexual romances.”
― Eve Rickert, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“If the idea of dating someone doesn't prompt an enthusiastic "Fuck yes!" then the answer is no. Ambivalence has little place in romance.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“There's nothing wrong with asking your partner to take time to show you why you're valued.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“Having a brilliant life means going outside your comfort zone. And sometimes discomfort shows us ways we can improve.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A practical guide to ethical polyamory

“Relationships—like living things, but unlike buildings—grow, change, and go through cycles. Some offer fruit and others flowers, and there might even be times when it seems like they're providing nothing at all. They have seasons, and they can die.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“Adopt a fluid idea about the way your life will look, keep in touch with your changing needs and those of your partners, talk to your partners about these things openly and without fear, and you can build relationships that grow as you grow.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“What boundaries can you set to protect your actual needs? How important is your own autonomy? Are you communicating your boundaries and needs?”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“This means full opportunity to voice needs, negotiate agreements and advocate for building the kind of relationship you want. Because different people want different things, empowerment is more useful than sameness as a relationship principle.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“Your partner is a person, and people can't be stolen. If some new shiny tries to "steal" him, he has to consent to being stolen. Veto or no veto, if he wants to stay with you, he will. So”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“Forget trying to figure out the right rules that will keep you safe forever; there is no safe forever. Instead, go into the world seeking to treat others with compassion whenever you touch them. Try to leave people better than when you found them. Communicate your needs. Understand and advocate for your boundaries. And look for other people who will do the same. Trust them when they say they love you; where communication and compassion exist, you don't need rules to keep you safe. We don't learn how to be compassionate by disenfranchising other people; we learn how to be compassionate by practicing compassion. Limited-duration”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“STARTING THE JOURNEY The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A practical guide to ethical polyamory

“The most immediate is that if you tell your partner "It's okay to ask for anything you want," it better be true. If you're not prepared to make it safe for your partner to open up to you, he won't. Because he'll feel he can't.”
― Franklin Veaux, More Than Two: A practical guide to ethical polyamory