The first lesson to be learned and practiced is patience. At the beginning of married life are shown the nature, the qualities, the flaws, the features, the skills, and the temperament that the other person did not even suspected. Sometimes it seems that mutual adaptation is impossible, because there will always be unsolvable conflicts, but patience and love conquer all and the two lives merge into a nobler, stronger, fuller, richer one, and this life will continue in peace and tranquillity. (Holy Martyr Alexandra, Empress of Russia)

(Translated from Cum să întemeiem o familie ortodoxă: 250 de sfaturi înțelepte pentru soț și soție de la sfinți și mari duhovnici, traducere de Adrian Tănăsescu-Vlas, Editura Sophia, București, 2011, pp. 102-103)