Be good friends. Don't marry a stranger and hope you'll become compatible over time. Start with a solid foundation of love, shared values, common interests, and trust. Don't expect your partner to change. People  do  change, but not in predictable ways. So if your partner has a drug problem, assume he'll always have one. Suppose you're marrying someone  with  a drug problem, not someone who will, with time, stop taking drugs, and ask if you can live with that. If she doesn't want children, assume she'll always not want children. If he has a temper, assume he'll always have a temper. Communicate consistently and communicate about  everything . If you have a big secret in your life that you're not comfortable sharing with your partner (a fetish, a crime you committed, a friend you betrayed), this will likely cause problems down the road. Get it out into the open, now, and lay down a foundation of honesty. Fart in front of your husband. Tell your wife...