Marriage quote

I have read and enjoyed several books by Kathleen Norris, but when her last one came out it got a terrible review in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. I decided not to put it on my library list. Then, a few months ago, I was looking through a sales brochure of Edward R. Hamilton, Bookseller and there it was--The Virgin of Bennington by Kathleen Norris, only $2.95. Edward R. Hamilton only charges $3.50 for shipping and handling per order, so I figured I might as well add The Virgin of Bennington in with the other titles that I wanted. Sometimes the critics are wrong. Well, not this time. The book bogs down in the middle and just doesn't work. But there was one quote that I kind of like. Elizabeth Kray, who was Kathleen Norris's mentor, "believed that people needed relationships that forced them to look outside themselves and connect with others, and thought that one of the best vehicles for this was to settle into what she termed 'the rock-bottom stability of marriage.' Shortly before my wedding, she wrote me: 'If we were trees we'd have rings of more intense color to show for the effects of marriage.'"