1. Stupid Secrets Withholding important information for fear of rejection 2. Stupid Egotism Asking not what you can do for the relationship but only what the relationship can do for you 3. Stupid Pettiness Making a big deal out of the small stuff 4. Stupid Power Always trying to be in control 5. Stupid Priorities Consuming all your time and energies with work, hobbies, errands, and chores instead of focusing on your relationship 6. Stupid Happiness Seeking stimulation and assurance from all the wrong places to satisfy the immature need to feel good 7. Stupid Excuses Not being accountable for bad behavior 8. Stupid Liaisons Not letting go of negative attachments to friends and relatives who are damaging to your relationship 9. Stupid Mismatch Not knowing when to leave and cut your losses 10. Stupid Breakups Disconnection for all the wrong reasons

These days, many of us enjoy unrivalled freedom and equality when it comes to choosing and building a relationship. Yet new myths about how to live and love compromise that happiness. Kate Figes argues that, whether married or cohabiting, gay or straight, remarried or a couple living apart, the quality of our intimate relationship is fundamental to our long-term health and happiness, because our need for commitment and love hasn't changed. This is not a handbook. There are no easy 'Mars and Venus' universal recipes for success, because relationships are far too complicated, individual and important for easy answers. But learning how others sustain lifelong love, and what really goes on in other people's lives can help us to understand our own partnerships and take responsibility for making them work. Couples is an incisive and important look at how we can learn to make love endure.