Many of the TV . . . shows and stories of fiction end with marriage: “They lived happily ever after.” . . . We have come to realize . . . that the mere performance of a ceremony does not bring happiness and a successful marriage. Happiness does not come by pressing a button, as does the electric light; happiness is a state of mind and comes from within. It must be earned. It cannot be purchased with money; it cannot be taken for nothing.
Some think of happiness as a glamorous life of ease, luxury, and constant thrills; but true marriage is based on a happiness which is more than that, one which comes from giving, serving, sharing, sacrificing, and selflessness.
—President Spencer W. Kimball, “Marriage and Divorce,” Devotional Address, Sept. 7, 1976.
info: The full text of this speech is available at speeches.byu.edu/Detail.tpl?sku=0335A.
Speaker's Notes
