20 Of The Ultimate "Best Man" Quotes

Updated March 10, 2024by Regain Editorial Team

When you find out that you’re the best man at a wedding, it’s a big deal. Your best friend, who may seem more like family, has selected you among all of his buddies to be his right-hand man for the wedding. It may sound like an excellent opportunity to have fun and celebrate, but there are also serious moments to plan for like the best man’s speech.

You may be familiar with public speaking, or perhaps, you’re a newbie. Maybe you have a career in the public sector and you’re used to being articulate in front of others. Alternatively, you could have social anxiety or not be the type to speak in public. Depending on your personality, you might be looking forward to giving the speech, or you could secretly be dreading it. One thing that can help when you are crafting your speech as the best man is to add in some quotes. Below are some tips for crafting a compelling speech as a best man, including some great quotes to use.

Planning ahead

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Do you have trouble communicating?

To give a good best man speech, you may want to avoid writing the speech at the last minute. For the best results, you could start building your speech at least two months before the wedding occurs. That way, you have a lot of time to research and get some ideas for what you’d like to say. You can gain inspiration from past speeches, and you can think about what personal touches you want to add as well. 

The opening line matters

Consider using a quote at the beginning of the best man’s speech. Applicable quotes include those about friendship or love. When you think about your best friend getting married, think about what matters to him. Think about his values, his favorite movies, and his personality, for instance. If you choose a quote to open with, it can provide you with a theme for the rest of the speech.

Write down some ideas

If you’re just starting the process, the thought of writing a whole monologue can be daunting. It could be helpful to remember that you don’t need to write the speech in its entirety right away. Instead, you could start jotting down ideas and then build on them piece by piece. Whenever an idea comes to you, consider writing it down, even if it’s just in a notes-type app on your phone. You can read it to yourself out loud to get a feel for how it sounds and tweak it as you go. Some people find it easier to write a speech if they say the words out loud first, whereas others might be more comfortable sitting down to write their first draft silently. Try different approaches to see what works for you.

Make an outline

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These are some great quotes aboWhen you write a speech, you may want to include a beginning, middle, and end. This may give the speech a logical  flow. It can also prevent you from rambling on about childhood stories or failing to come to a conclusion that wraps it all up. You might start with an anecdote representing the groom and go from there, but it could be important to have a road map for how the speech will go.

Here’s a basic outline for a best man’s speech:

  1. Use an engaging open line.

  2. Thank the wedding guests for being there.

  3. Congratulate the couple.

  4. Say some warm and kind words about the bride or partner.

  5. Crack a joke about the groom.

  6. Introduce a quote or passage from something meaningful to the groom.

  7. Propose a toast.

This is just one example of a best man’s speech at a wedding. It doesn’t have to be complicated; it can be light and funny or serious if you like.

Anecdotes

Depending on how long you’ve known the person getting married, you may have anecdotes dating back to childhood, your teenage years, or young adult life. Most everyone likes a funny story, so including an anecdote can be engaging and fun.

Why is it a good idea to add a quote in your speech?

A quote can be a great point to start from since you can build your speech around the quote. Not only that, but a good quote often sticks with people. It gives people something that’s both meaningful and easy to remember about the speech, and it shows that you put care into the process. Let’s look at some examples of the ultimate best man quotes that you can put in your speech to make it special and memorable.

Before you choose the quote that you’re going to add to your speech, note that its tone is up to you. It doesn’t have to be cheesy; it can be funny or serious. Think about your friend, and make sure that the quote represents who they are as a person. Are they funny or more stoic and serious? Are they on the dramatic side or more philosophical? You might even find that taking some thoughts from other friends into consideration might help you throughout the process. There’s no right or wrong way to write a speech. You could start with a dramatic quote or something that’ll make the audience laugh. It’s just a matter of what sort of tone you want to set for the wedding. You want your speech to match your friend, the couple, and the crowd.

Ultimate best man quotes

One thing you can do is give a quote from the groom. Maybe you remember your friend saying something meaningful to you when you were in high school or college. Perhaps he said something funny on a road trip.  Remember that a heartfelt speech doesn’t necessarily have to be entirely serious. You can introduce some humor if you feel it’s appropriate. Here are some sample quotes that people have used in both best man speeches and as a part of weddings:

Sample best man quotes

The following quotes range in tone from humorous to thoughtful:

  1. “Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out.”

-Michelle Montaigne

  1. “Marriage is not just spiritual communion. It also remembers to take out the trash.”

-Joyce Brothers

  1. “An archeologist is the best husband a woman can have. The older she gets, the more interested he is in her.”

-Agatha Christie

  1. “If I get married, I want to be very married.”

-Audrey Hepburn

  1. “There is no more lovely, friendly, and charming relationship, communion than a good marriage.”

-Martin Luther

  1. “By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.”

-Socrates

  1. “If you want your wife to listen to you, then talk to another woman; she will be all ears.”

-Sigmund Freud

  1. “All marriages are happy. It’s the living together afterward that causes all the trouble.”

-Raymond Hull

  1. Take care of him. And make him feel important. And if you can do that, you’ll have a happy and wonderful marriage. Like two out of every ten couples.”

-Neil Simon

  1. “What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined for life-to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be one with each other in silent unspeakable memories at the moment of the last parting?”

-George Eliot

  1. “To get the full value of joy, you must have someone to divide it with.”

-Mark Twain

  1. “The secret of a happy marriage is finding the right person. You know they’re right if you love to be with them all the time.”

-Julia Child

  1. “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.”

-Aristotle

  1. “To be fully seen by somebody, then, and be loved anyhow, this is a human offering that can border on miraculous.”

-Elizabeth Gilbert

  1. “They slipped into an intimacy from which they never recovered.”

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

  1. I make mistakes, I’m out of control, and at times hard to handle. But, if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.”

-Marilyn Monroe

  1. “My wife is my soulmate. I can’t imagine being without her.”

– Matt Damon

  1. “It’s tough to stay married. My wife kisses the dog on the lips, yet she won’t drink from my glass.”

-Rodney Dangerfield

  1. “Marriage is an alliance entered into by a man who can’t sleep with the window shut, and a woman who can’t sleep with the window open.”

-George Bernard Shaw

  1. “Marriage is like putting your hand into a bag of snakes in the hope of pulling out an eel.”

-Leonardo DaVinci

ut marriage that you might use in a best man speech.

Your Speech Shouldn’t Sound Scripted

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Do you have trouble communicating?

When you’re writing your best man speech, you may want to focus on making it sound organic. You want the audience to feel like it’s a conversational matter rather than something that seems forced or stilted. 

Takeaway

If you're feeling nervous about being the best man at your friend's wedding, one place you can discuss your feelings is in therapy. It's natural to have anxiety about your role. Online counseling is an excellent place to talk through a variety of issues. 

If you’re not comfortable giving a speech at a wedding, chances are you may be uncomfortable talking to a stranger about your anxieties, though, especially in person. An online therapeutic setting may be more suitable for you. Many people report feeling more at ease discussing their problems in this type of remote environment. Plus, online counseling is more flexible and can be fit into virtually any schedule. 

Research supports the use of online counseling in alleviating a variety of mental health challenges and conditions. A comprehensive meta-analysis of studies probing nearly 10,000 individual cases showed no significant difference in outcomes between online therapy and in-person treatment. 

Whether therapy is with a partner or in individual counseling, the counselors at Regain are skilled in helping people work through their emotional issues and concerns in relationships and marriages. Search through the talented online therapists at Regain today and find someone who's right for you.

"My experience with Priscilla has been immensely helpful in better understanding myself and providing me with the tools to see my life and relationships with more clarity and compassion."

“I don’t know what I would have done without Harry. I was in a super low place and I was not sure what my problems were or how to solve them, but he was able to help me get to the bottom of my problems and work through them. Today, I am happy and feeling like myself again. He was so easy to talk to and worked with me whenever I needed him. Even on vacation, he took time to call me and talk through whatever I was going through. I would highly recommend him.”

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