---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: No human being can destroy the structure…"
description: "\"No human being can destroy the structure of a marriage except the two who made it. It is the one human edifice that is impregnable except from within.\"..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15a/gwen-bristow-36819_edifice_no-human-being-can-destroy-the-structure_2390743.jpg"
---

#  No human being can destroy the structure of a marriage…

![“No human being can destroy the structure of a marriage except the two who made it. It is the one human edifice that is impregnable except from within.” quote by Gwen Bristow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15a/gwen-bristow-36819_edifice_no-human-being-can-destroy-the-structure_2390743.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15a/gwen-bristow-36819_edifice_no-human-being-can-destroy-the-structure_2390743.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15a/gwen-bristow-36819_edifice_no-human-being-can-destroy-the-structure_2390743.jpg)

> “No human being can destroy the structure of a marriage except the two who made it. It is the one human edifice that is impregnable except from within.”

[Gwen Bristow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwen-bristow/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Marriage is a structure built by its partners; only they can dismantle it from within.

**In simple terms:** Only those in a marriage can break it

Key Takeaway

Protect the integrity of relationships

Themes

marriage trust vulnerability

Mood

cautious hopeful

Type

relationship advice

When to use this quote

- relationship counseling
- marital conflict resolution

Key Concepts

Systems theory interdependence psychology

Questions to Reflect On

- How do internal dynamics affect partnership strength?
- What safeguards can couples build?

A Different Perspective

External forces cannot destroy a marriage alone.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Edifice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/edifice/) [Edifice Impregnable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/edifice-impregnable-5954441/) [Human beings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-beings/) [Human Destroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-destroy-5813695/) [Human Edifice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-edifice-5954442/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Made](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/made/) [Made it](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/made-it/) [Marriage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/marriage/) [Marriage Human](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/marriage-human-2247935/) [Structure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/structure/) [Structure Marriage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/structure-marriage-993610/) [Two](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two/)

## Related quotes

> [“Love is like organized crime. It changes the structure of marriage game so that the equilibrium becomes the outcome that works for everybody.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-christian-tom-griffiths/love-is-like-organized-crime-it-changes-the-structure-of-marriage/)

[Brian Christian, Tom Griffiths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-christian-tom-griffiths/)

> [Women tend to be preservers of the social structure, of marriage. They don't want to upset their husbands or their significant others. They don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/women-tend-to-be-preservers-of-the-social-structure-of-marriage-they/)

[Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/)

> [The aim of torture is to destroy a person as a human being, to destroy their identity and soul. It is more evil than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/inge-genefke/the-aim-of-torture-is-to-destroy-a-person-as-a-human-being-to-destroy-2/)

[Inge Genefke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/inge-genefke/)

> [Would a CONSCIOUS human being destroy himself through war, and crime, and quarrels? No, a man simply knows not what he does to himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-i-gurdjieff/would-a-conscious-human-being-destroy-himself-through-war-and-crime/)

[G. I. Gurdjieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-i-gurdjieff/)

> [“An idea can destroy the mind of a human being, twist it into a dark path of destruction and illness. But only the human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ingrid/an-idea-can-destroy-the-mind-of-a-human-being-twist-it-into-a-dark/)

[Ingrid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ingrid/)

> [It was a mixed marriage. I'm human, and he was a Klingon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-leifer/it-was-a-mixed-marriage-i-m-human-and-he-was-a-klingon/)

[Carol Leifer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-leifer/)

> [Unless the law of marriage were first made human, it could never become divine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/unless-the-law-of-marriage-were-first-made-human-it-could-never/)

[George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/)

> [There is no marriage, yet, for human beings and animals. I never thought that I would fall in love like this with a cat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-lagerfeld/there-is-no-marriage-yet-for-human-beings-and-animals-i-never-thought/)

[Karl Lagerfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-lagerfeld/)

> [You either believe marriage and human sexuality are sacred, or you do not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirk-cameron/you-either-believe-marriage-and-human-sexuality-are-sacred-or-you-do/)

[Kirk Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kirk-cameron/)

> [I believe marriage is a human right, not a state right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-o-malley/i-believe-marriage-is-a-human-right-not-a-state-right/)

[Martin O'Malley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-o-malley/)

> [The walls of that grand edifice called a good character have to be worked at during life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/the-walls-of-that-grand-edifice-called-a-good-character-have-to-be/)

[Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/)

> [The common man, finding himself in a world so excellent, technically and socially, believes it has been produced by nature, and never thinks of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-ortega-y-gasset/the-common-man-finding-himself-in-a-world-so-excellent-technically/)

[Jose Ortega y Gasset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-ortega-y-gasset/)

> [Just take one thing out and the whole palace, the whole edifice of the human mind collapses. Take effort out of it and desiring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/just-take-one-thing-out-and-the-whole-palace-the-whole-edifice-of-the/)

[Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/)

> [The highest perfection of politeness is only a beautiful edifice, built, from the base to the dome, of ungraceful and gilded forms of charitable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-highest-perfection-of-politeness-is-only-a-beautiful-edifice/)

[Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/)

> [I'm not one of those James Joyce intellectuals who can stand back and look at the whole edifice... It was a slow process for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-mccourt/i-m-not-one-of-those-james-joyce-intellectuals-who-can-stand-back-and/)

[Frank McCourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-mccourt/)

## More by Gwen Bristow

> [“Clever people are entertaining and stupid ones give me such a pleasant sense of superiority.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwen-bristow/clever-people-are-entertaining-and-stupid-ones-give-me-such-a/)

[Gwen Bristow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwen-bristow/)

> [uproar against a new idea, and laws to prevent anybody's accepting it, nearly always can be regarded as a signal that the new idea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwen-bristow/uproar-against-a-new-idea-and-laws-to-prevent-anybody-s-accepting-it/)

[Gwen Bristow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwen-bristow/)

> [“Love and hate, Miss Kendra, are not two opposite things. They're like the front of your hand and the back of it, Two sides…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwen-bristow/love-and-hate-miss-kendra-are-not-two-opposite-things-they-re-like/)

[Gwen Bristow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwen-bristow/)

> [being made happy isn't receiving something new, it's being made to understand what we have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwen-bristow/being-made-happy-isn-t-receiving-something-new-it-s-being-made-to/)

[Gwen Bristow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwen-bristow/)

> [Nothing's easier than believing we understand experiences we've never had.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwen-bristow/nothing-s-easier-than-believing-we-understand-experiences-we-ve-never/)

[Gwen Bristow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwen-bristow/)

> [We always hate the school room where we learn hard lessons. But then we love it, because that's the school that taught us all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwen-bristow/we-always-hate-the-school-room-where-we-learn-hard-lessons-but-then/)

[Gwen Bristow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwen-bristow/)

> [“I’m not really beautiful,’ she said to herself, ‘but tonight I feel beautiful. And I look like a girl who feels beautiful.' (84)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwen-bristow/i-m-not-really-beautiful-she-said-to-herself-but-tonight-i-feel/)

[Gwen Bristow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwen-bristow/)

> [We can get the new world we want, if we want it enough to abandon our prejudices, every day, everywhere. We can build this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwen-bristow/we-can-get-the-new-world-we-want-if-we-want-it-enough-to-abandon-our/)

[Gwen Bristow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwen-bristow/)

> [The rich and powerful want to believe in their right to be rich and powerful, so they justify it by saying they are inherently…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwen-bristow/the-rich-and-powerful-want-to-believe-in-their-right-to-be-rich-and/)

[Gwen Bristow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwen-bristow/)

> [You are not required to start over, but you are required to keep going.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwen-bristow/you-are-not-required-to-start-over-but-you-are-required-to-keep-going/)

[Gwen Bristow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwen-bristow/)

[Explore all 11 Gwen Bristow quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwen-bristow/)

## More Edifice quotes

> [I'm not one of those James Joyce intellectuals who can stand back and look at the whole edifice... It was a slow process for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-mccourt/i-m-not-one-of-those-james-joyce-intellectuals-who-can-stand-back-and/)

[Frank McCourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-mccourt/)

> [The highest perfection of politeness is only a beautiful edifice, built, from the base to the dome, of ungraceful and gilded forms of charitable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-highest-perfection-of-politeness-is-only-a-beautiful-edifice/)

[Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/)

> [Just take one thing out and the whole palace, the whole edifice of the human mind collapses. Take effort out of it and desiring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/just-take-one-thing-out-and-the-whole-palace-the-whole-edifice-of-the/)

[Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/)

> [The common man, finding himself in a world so excellent, technically and socially, believes it has been produced by nature, and never thinks of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-ortega-y-gasset/the-common-man-finding-himself-in-a-world-so-excellent-technically/)

[Jose Ortega y Gasset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-ortega-y-gasset/)

> [The walls of that grand edifice called a good character have to be worked at during life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/the-walls-of-that-grand-edifice-called-a-good-character-have-to-be/)

[Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/)

> [God grant that by my persevering labours I may bring a little stone to the frail and ill-assured edifice of our knowledge of those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-pasteur/god-grant-that-by-my-persevering-labours-i-may-bring-a-little-stone/)

[Louis Pasteur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-pasteur/)

> [The court is like a palace built of marble; I mean that it is made up of very hard but very polished people. \[Fr.,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/the-court-is-like-a-palace-built-of-marble-i-mean-that-it-is-made-up/)

[Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/)

> [With my work, I try to delve into the several layers that compose the edifice of history, to take the shadows cast by this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vhils/with-my-work-i-try-to-delve-into-the-several-layers-that-compose-the/)

[Vhils](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vhils/)

> [Meaning is a shaky edifice we build out of scraps, dogmas, childhood injuries, newspaper articles, chance remarks, old fillms, small victories, people hated, people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/meaning-is-a-shaky-edifice-we-build-out-of-scraps-dogmas-childhood/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

> [There is so much history of this racist violence that simply to bring one person to justice is not going to disturb the whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/there-is-so-much-history-of-this-racist-violence-that-simply-to-bring/)

[Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/)

> [Dubai was a property bubble. Plain and simple. Go to Dubai and see what happened. It was... what I call it the 'Edifice complex'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-chanos/dubai-was-a-property-bubble-plain-and-simple-go-to-dubai-and-see-what/)

[James Chanos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-chanos/)

> [...just as the edifice of all the virtues strives upward toward perfect prayer so will all these virtues be neither sturdy nor enduring unless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cassian/just-as-the-edifice-of-all-the-virtues-strives-upward-toward-perfect/)

[John Cassian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cassian/)

> [The church has been brought into the same value system as the world: fame, success, materialism and celebrity. We watch the leading churches and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-colson/the-church-has-been-brought-into-the-same-value-system-as-the-world/)

[Charles Colson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-colson/)

> [And it does no harm to repeat, as often as you can, 'Without me the literary industry would not exist: the publishers, the agents,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/and-it-does-no-harm-to-repeat-as-often-as-you-can-without-me-the/)

[Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/)

> [It is a useless life that is not consecrated to a great ideal. It is like a stone wasted on the field without becoming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jos-rizal/it-is-a-useless-life-that-is-not-consecrated-to-a-great-ideal-it-is/)

[Jose Rizal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jos-rizal/)

[Browse all 126 Edifice quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/edifice/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "No human being can destroy the structure of a marriage except the two who made it. It is the one human edifice that is impregnable except from within.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Gwen Bristow"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwen-bristow/no-human-being-can-destroy-the-structure-of-a-marriage-except-the-two/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Edifice"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwen-bristow/no-human-being-can-destroy-the-structure-of-a-marriage-except-the-two/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15a/gwen-bristow-36819_edifice_no-human-being-can-destroy-the-structure_2390743.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15a/gwen-bristow-36819_edifice_no-human-being-can-destroy-the-structure_2390743.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15a/gwen-bristow-36819_edifice_no-human-being-can-destroy-the-structure_2390743.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“No human being can destroy the structure of a marriage except the two who made it. It is the one human…” — Gwen Bristow",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Gwen Bristow",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwen-bristow/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "No human being can destroy the...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwen-bristow/no-human-being-can-destroy-the-structure-of-a-marriage-except-the-two/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwen-bristow/no-human-being-can-destroy-the-structure-of-a-marriage-except-the-two/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
