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"...all couples--those who are happily married into their rocking-chair years and those who divorce before they hit their fifth anniversary--disagree more or less the same amount. He found that they argue about the same subjects--money, kids, time and sex chief among them--and that for the average couple, 69 percent of those disagreements are irreconcilable. A morning bird and a night owl won't ever fully eliminate their differences; nor will a spendthrift and a penny pincher. What distinguished satisfied couples from the miserable ones, he found, was how creatively and constructively they managed those differences."

(from "Marriage: What every couple should know" by Ellen McCarthy in today's Washington Post Magazine)