Marriage is one of the most sacred human institutions. I asked our Senators, as many South Dakotans have done, to protect marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

It's become a cliche to think of marriage as a disaster area and a war zone.

Married men live longer than single men. But married men are a lot more willing to die.

While 45 of the 50 States have either a State constitutional amendment or a statute that preserves the current definition of marriage, left-wing activist judges and officials at the local levels have struck down State laws protecting marriage.

Plenty of the women who were single in the nineteenth century wrote about their desire to evade marriage. Marriage was scary in a lot of ways. It often involved having a lot of kids, losing your autonomy, being in service to a husband and children who were often born at an unremitting pace without the benefit of modern medicine.

In Hollywood a marriage is a success if it outlasts milk.

There's this whole kind of fiction and image that marriage is perfect.

My parents have had a love marriage, so I have made it pretty clear to them that I, too, will have a love marriage.

I think what's dangerous about marriage is the way it can make you feel like you've got it all wrapped up. Like you're done: you've found your spouse, you've married him or her, and you don't need to think too much more about it.

Historically, there has been a clear and essential connection between marriage and responsible procreation and child rearing.

A lot of people seem to want to make the institution of marriage substitute for a real relationship.

The only reason I got married in 2003 was for my children. I had a therapist who said marriage is really a container for a family, and that made sense to me.

My parents separated when I was four. It wasn't the smoothest of divorces, but then as my mother always says, you can't have a passionate marriage without a passionate divorce.

Not cohabitation but consensus constitutes marriage.

My mother got married at a very young age, but she did her B.A., B. Ed and M.A. after marriage.

You can block a marriage, but you cannot force a marriage.

Like any relationship, a marriage does take work.

I'd marry again if I found a man who had fifteen million dollars, would sign over half to me, and guarantee that he'd be dead within a year.

I wouldn't say I'm against same-sex marriage. I believe in freedom and equality for all people. I believe that when it comes to gay marriage, that's a political and legal issue that has to be dealt with in that arena. I have privately held beliefs, but when it comes to that, it's properly placed in the political and legal arena.

You know the fairy-tale drill, especially from the Disney versions: the heroines endure awful stuff in rites of passage that lead to a joyous resolution of, usually, marriage to a prince. 'Into the Woods' follows that template, then asks, 'What happens after Happy Ever After?'