Only the broken-hearted know the truth about love.

Meaning: The saying contrasts idealised expectations during courtship with everyday experience in marriage. It invites attention to ordinary responsibilities before a commitment, but its gendered and absolute framing should not imply that marriage inevitably disappoints or that affection is merely illusion.

Meaning: The comparison questions an account offered without the experience or evidence needed for its subject. Its disability-based insult should be distinguished from that useful question.

Meaning: People who continue an activity despite obvious discomfort must have a strong attachment to it. Dancing among thorns exaggerates the obstacles someone will accept for something they enjoy.

Meaning: A relationship may need trust and dependable conduct to support that trust. The saying connects affection with steadiness, without demanding unquestioning belief, fixed roles or staying in a harmful relationship.