Happiness Quote by Don Fraser

Domestic peace, Fraser suggests, isn’t built on romance or moral superiority; it’s built on procedural humility. The line lands because it treats marriage less like a union of souls than a perpetual negotiation between two sovereign states. Each spouse “grants the possibility” the other may be right: that verb is doing the political work. A grant is conditional, strategic, and reversible. It’s not surrender. It’s a concession made to keep the system running.

Then comes the kicker: “though neither believes it.” The joke is dry, but the insight is sharper than the punchline. Fraser is naming a familiar dynamic without sanctimony: most couples don’t walk around feeling intellectually defeated. They feel justified. What keeps the home “happy” isn’t the triumph of truth, but a mutual agreement to behave as if truth might be negotiable. It’s civility as a technology.

As a politician, Fraser’s subtext is hard to miss. This is coalition logic smuggled into the living room. You don’t need total agreement to avoid collapse; you need just enough respect for the other side’s plausibility to prevent every disagreement from becoming a referendum on character. The line also flatters the reader’s self-awareness: yes, you’re stubborn; so is your partner; that’s normal. The real maturity is performing openness even when you privately keep your own vote.

It works because it punctures the fantasy that harmony comes from finding the “right” person. Fraser’s version is messier, funnier, and closer to the truth: happiness is a bipartisan truce with good manners.