The Joy of Intimacy Quotes

“intimacy is a serious concern for anyone seeking to lead a meaningful life.”
― Manis Friedman, The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide to Love, Sexuality, and Marriage

“Intimacy is a connection between two people that transcends all “things.” There are relationships that are created around things—for instance, you both like piña coladas and walks in the rain. But is that grounds for marriage? You both like to play tennis. Is that grounds for marriage? You both want love. Is even that grounds for marriage? Think about it: if you’re interested in getting love when you enter into a relationship, who are you marrying? The person or the love? Love is a very lovely thing, but it’s not the person”
― Manis Friedman, The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide to Love, Sexuality, and Marriage

“Married love is fiery, passionate, and intense. It is not constant; it flares up and cools down again. That’s what makes it unique and what creates the attraction. The strength of this kind of love lies in the fact that it is not constant and consistent. Were the relationship of husband and wife to become steady and unchanging like that of a brother and sister, the relationship would become stagnant, and that would be unhealthy.”
― Manis Friedman, The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide to Love, Sexuality, and Marriage

“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.”
― Manis Friedman, The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide to Love, Sexuality, and Marriage

“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.”
― Manis Friedman, The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide to Love, Sexuality, and Marriage

“Intimacy implies a soulful connection with another person, an exclusively private and deep relationship.”
― Manis Friedman, The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide to Love, Sexuality, and Marriage

“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.”
― Manis Friedman, The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide to Love, Sexuality, and Marriage

“INTIMACY IS AN ART. It’s not something that just happens. It must be learned, cultivated, and practiced carefully if it is to flourish.”
― Manis Friedman, The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide to Love, Sexuality, and Marriage

“When real intimacy exists between a husband and a wife, they are both exposed and vulnerable. Without this vulnerability, there can be no intimacy. Engaging in real intimacy is risky, but the respect and protection of the vulnerability that gives birth to intimacy make it infinitely precious.”
― Manis Friedman, The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide to Love, Sexuality, and Marriage

“Unlike love, intimacy cannot exist without the participation of another. While love is about “me,” intimacy is about “us.”
― Manis Friedman, The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide to Love, Sexuality, and Marriage

“There needs to be love within a relationship, certainly in a marriage. The question is, what is its proper place? In any relationship the most important thing is the foundation, the truth, of the relationship, not the feeling. Feelings rise and ebb. A strong foundation, however, is stable and unchanging.”
― Manis Friedman, The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide to Love, Sexuality, and Marriage

“Real intimacy, by contrast, points us outward from the self toward another. It lifts us out of ourselves to encounter the infinite in another person. Desiring that kind of intensely meaningful encounter is intrinsic to our true nature, which is why we yearn for it so deeply and feel its absence so keenly. Indulging in physical pleasure for its”
― Manis Friedman, The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide to Love, Sexuality, and Marriage

“Marriage is about creating a life that embraces and nurtures that intimacy. Intimacy is a state of grace that arrives and then hides. So even if we have achieved intimacy, we must continue to maintain it. We must constantly seek it out, cultivate it, protect it, and nurture it.”
― Manis Friedman, The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide to Love, Sexuality, and Marriage

“God doesn’t play dice with the universe. Whenever two people come together in marriage, it signifies a special connection between two souls as well as a distinct opportunity.”
― Manis Friedman, The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide to Love, Sexuality, and Marriage

“The essential and unique attraction between men and women is not sexual but spiritual.”
― Manis Friedman, The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide to Love, Sexuality, and Marriage

“I said, “You feel married to him because when the two of you got married, God brought together two parts of one soul. You were meant for each other and so God made it happen. It wasn’t a mistake. When a marriage doesn’t work out and there’s a divorce, some people say, ‘Well, that was a mistake. We weren’t really meant for one another.’ But that’s not right. It wasn’t a mistake. God doesn’t make mistakes. It’s like saying, ‘Oops, I gave birth to the wrong baby. This is not my kid.’ You don’t give birth to the wrong child and you don’t end up marrying the wrong man.”
― Manis Friedman, The Joy of Intimacy: A Soulful Guide to Love, Sexuality, and Marriage