Marriage Quote by Rita Rudner

Romance gets dragged off its pedestal and slapped with a “wet floor” sign. Rita Rudner’s line works because it treats “falling in love” as both a grand narrative and an embarrassing accident, then chooses the accident. The pivot from “fallen” to “stepped in it” is the joke’s engine: love is re-coded as something you track into the house on your shoe, something you didn’t plan, don’t fully notice until it’s too late, and definitely don’t want on the carpet. It’s comic deflation with a faintly hygienic disgust that punctures the supposed elegance of romance.

The intent isn’t anti-love; it’s pro-clarity. By reserving “fallen in love” for her husband, Rudner gives marriage a rare compliment in stand-up terms while still protecting herself with cynicism. The subtext is a familiar adult recalibration: what we once labeled “love” was often momentum, loneliness, lust, or storytelling. “A few times” adds sting because it implies a pattern - not tragic, just mildly ridiculous - the kind of repetition you laugh about because the alternative is admitting you were earnest.

Context matters: Rudner’s comedy persona trades in controlled neatness and observational precision, and this line fits late-20th-century stand-up’s skepticism about romance scripts sold by movies and greeting cards. It’s also a gendered wink. A woman comic claiming authority over her own emotional history - and doing it with a gross-out metaphor - sidesteps sentimentality without forfeiting tenderness. The laugh lands because it’s a confession that refuses to beg for sympathy.