Two Separate Beings

“Two separate beings, in different circumstances,

 face to face in freedom and seeking 

justification of their existence through one another, 

will always live an adventure full of risk and promise." 

~ Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex

Tell Me

“Tell me whom you haunt 

and I’ll tell you who you are.”

~ Andre Breton

The Only Real Battle

“The only real battle in life 

is between hanging on and letting go.”

~ Shannon L. Alder

The Desire To Love Someone

“The desire to love someone always exceeds 

the desire to be loved by someone 

& that's exactly why we end up loving 

the person who doesn't deserve that LOVE.”

~ Anirban Bose, Bombay Rains, Bombay Girls

To Find Out If She Really Loved Me

“To find out if she really loved me, 

I hooked her up to a lie detector. 

And just as I suspected, 

my machine was broken.

~ Dark Jar Tin Zoo, 

Love Quotes for the Ages. Specifically Ages 19-91.

I Once Loved A Girl

“I once loved a girl who almost loved me, 

but not as much as she loved John Cusack.”

~ Chuck Klosterman, 

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

Human Relationships

“Human relationships always help us to carry on 

because they always presuppose further developments, a future - 

and also because we live as if our only task 

was precisely to have relationships with other people.”

~ Albert Camus

There Are All Kinds Of Ways

“There are all kinds of ways for a relationship to be tested, 

even broken, some, irrevocably; 

it’s the endings we’re unprepared for.”

~ Katherine Owen, Not To Us

I Think

“I think of how each person in a marriage 

owes it to the other to find individual happiness, even in a shared life. 

That this is the only way to grow together, instead of apart.”

~ Emily Giffin, Heart of the Matter

A Woman

“A woman can become a man's friend only in the following stages - 

first an acquaintance, 

next a mistress, 

and only then a friend.”

~ Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya

Her Face Looked Ugly

“Her face looked ugly in the attempt to avoid tears; 

it was an ugliness which bound him to her 

more than any beauty could have done. 

It isn't being happy together, 

he thought as though it were a fresh discovery, 

that makes one love -- it's being unhappy together.”

~ Graham Greene, The Ministry of Fear

A Tamed Woman

“A tamed woman will never leave her mark in the world.”

~ Robert M. Drake

People Are Islands

“People are islands,' she said. 

'They don't really touch. 

However close they are, they're really quite separate. 

Even if they've been married for fifty years.”

~ Ian Fleming, Casino Royale

The True Measure Of A Man

“The true measure of a man 

is how he treats you 

when others are not looking.”

~ Alessandra Torre

In This Story

“In this story 

I am the poet

You're the poetry.”

~ Arzum Uzun

Find A Woman

“Find a woman who makes you feel more alive. 

She won't make life perfect 

but she'll make it infinitely more interesting. 

And then love her with all that's in you.”

~ Gayle G. Roper, Shadows on the Sand

People Will Walk In And Walk Out

“People will walk in and walk out of your life, 

but the one whose footstep made a long-lasting impression 

is the one you should never allow to walk out.”

~ Michael Bassey Johnson

When You Say

“When you say "I" and "my" too much, 

you lose the capacity to understand 

the "we" and "our".”

~ Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

It Can Be Difficult

“It can be difficult to leave a long-term relationship, 

when our inner wisdom tells us it's time to let go. 

At this point, we can choose to let go 

and endure the intense pain of leaving behind the familiar 

to make way for a new chapter in our life. 

Or we can stay and suffer a low-grade pain 

that slowly eats away at our heart and soul, 

like an emotional cancer. 

Until we wake up, one day and realize, 

we are buried so deep in the dysfunction 

of the relationship that we scarcely remember 

who we were and what we wanted and needed to be.”

~ Jaeda DeWalt

I Used To Think

“I used to think I knew everything. 

I was a "smart person" who "got things done," 

and because of that, the higher I climbed, 

the more I could look down and scoff 

at what seemed silly or simple, even religion. 

But I realized something as I drove home that night: 

that I am neither better nor smarter, only luckier. 

And I should be ashamed of thinking I knew everything 

because you can know the whole world and still feel lost in it. 

So many people are in pain-no matter 

how smart or accomplished-they cry, 

they yearn, they hurt. 

But instead of looking down on things, they look up, 

which is where I should have been looking, too. 

Because when the world quiets to the sound of your own breathing, 

we all want the same things: comfort, love, and a peaceful heart.”

~ Mitch Albom, Have a Little Faith: a True Story

I Could've Sworn

“I could’ve sworn I was telling the truth 

when I told you I didn’t miss you.”

~ pleasefindthis, I Wrote This For You

You Can Be In Love

“You can be in love and you can be in a relationship. 

But they’re not always the same thing.”

~ pleasefindthis, I Wrote This For You

She Asked If I Loved Another Woman

“She asked if I loved another woman, 

so I answered honestly and said, 

“Dinner was great, but I could go for dessert.”

~ Dark Jar Tin Zoo, Love Quotes for the Ages. Specifically Ages 19-91.

I Think

“I think of how each person in a marriage owes it 

to the other to find individual happiness, even in a shared life. 

That this is the only way to grow together, instead of apart.”

~ Emily Giffin, Heart of the Matter

Human Relationships

“Human relationships always help us to carry on 

because they always presuppose further developments, a future - 

and also because we live as if our only task was 

precisely to have relationships with other people.”

~ Albert Camus

No Matter How Much You Love Someone

“No matter how much you love someone, 

you still want to have your own way.”

~ Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby

If He Can't Handle You At Your Worst

“If he can't handle you at your worst 

then he does not deserve you at your best. 

Real love means seeing beyond the words spoken out of pain, 

and instead seeing a person's soul.”

~ Shannon Alder, 300 Questions LDS Couples Should Ask Before Marriage

Visionary Feminism

“Visionary feminism is a wise and loving politics. 

It is rooted in the love of male and female beings, 

refusing to privilege one over the other. 

The soul of feminist politics is the commitment 

to ending patriarchal domination of women and men, girls and boys. 

Love cannot exist in any relationship that is based on domination and coercion. Males cannot love themselves in patriarchal culture if their very self-definition relies on submission to patriarchal rules. 

When men embrace feminist thinking and practice,

 which emphasizes the value of mutual growth and self-actualization in all relationships, their emotional well-being will be enhanced. 

A genuine feminist politics always brings us from bondage to freedom, 

from lovelessness to loving.”

~ Bell Hooks

Don't Spoil Me

“Don’t spoil me with your lies, love me with your truth.”

~ T.F. Hodge, From Within I Rise: 

Spiritual Triumph Over Death and Conscious Encounters with 

"The Divine Presence"

Every Now And Then

“Every now and then, 

I’d meet a guy and think 

that we were getting along great, 

and suddenly I’d stop hearing from him. 

Not only did he stop calling, 

but if I happened to bump into him 

sometime later he always acted like I had the plague. 

I didn’t understand it. 

I still don’t. 

And it bothered me. 

It hurt me. 

With time, it got harder and harder 

to keep blaming the guys, 

and I eventually came to the conclusion 

that there was something wrong with me. 

That maybe I was simply meant to live my life alone.”

~ Nicholas Sparks, The Lucky One

How Could You Love Us Being Together?

“How could you love us being together?" he asked me. 

"We are nothing alike and we are not meant for each other 

and we drive each other crazy, you love that? How can you love that?" 

So I told him "I know that we're not meant for each other, 

that we drive each other crazy, and that we are so different. 

But that's us. That's what we have; a wild nonsense. 

We are not good together, but together we are bad for each other. 

I love us together this way just like this. 

Because even if it's no good,

 it's what we have!

 It's us.”

~ C. JoyBell C.

Intimacy

“Intimacy requires courage because risk is inescapable. 

We cannot know at the outset how the relationship will affect us. 

Like a chemical mixture, if one of us is changed, both of us will be. 

Will we grow in self-actualization, or will it destroy us? 

The one thing we can be certain of is that 

if we let ourselves fully into the relationship for good or evil, 

we will not come out unaffected.”

~ Rollo May, The Courage to Create

Sometimes

“Sometimes to self-discover you must self-destruct.”

~ Robert M. Drake

I Believe With All My Heart

“I believe with all my heart that the cliches are true, 

that we are our own best friends and best company, 

and that if you're not right for yourself, 

it's impossible to be right for anyone.”

~ Rachel Machacek, The Science of Single: 

One Woman's Grand Experiment in Modern Dating, 

Creating Chemistry, and Finding Love

He Knew Me

“He knew me in all the ways that truly mattered: 

the shape of my fears, the contours of my dreams.”

~ Justina Chen Headley

I've Heard

“I've heard that people stand in bad situations 

because a relationship like that gets turned up by degrees. 

It is said that a frog will jump out of a pot of boiling water. 

Place him in a pot and turn it up a little at a time, 

and he will stay until he is boiled to death. 

Us frogs understand this.”

~ Deb Caletti, Stay

Be Sure

“Be sure it's your real self you're showing. 

Because it is your real self that needs to be loved.”

~ Daphne Rose Kingma, Finding True Love: 

The 4 Essential Keys to Bring You the Love of Your Life

If You Have The Woman You Love

“If you have the woman you love, 

what more do you need? 

Well, besides an alibi for the time of her husband’s murder.”

~ Dark Jar Tin Zoo, Love Quotes for the Ages. 

Specifically Ages 19-91.

Life

Life contains but two tragedies. 

One is not to get your heart’s desire; 

the other is to get it.”

~ Socrates

Ultimately The Bond Of All Companionship

“Ultimately the bond of all companionship, 

whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation, 

and conversation must have a common basis, 

and between two people of widely different 

culture the only common basis possible is the lowest level.”

~ Oscar Wilde

Single Is No Longer A Lack Of Options

“Single is no longer a lack of options – but a choice. 

A choice to refuse to let your life be defined 

by your relationship status but to live every day 

Happily and let your Ever After work itself out.”

~ Mandy Hale, The Single Woman: 

Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass

My Wife And I

“My wife and I just don't have the same 

feelings for each other we used to have. 

I guess I just don't love her anymore 

and she doesn't love me. What can i do?"

"The feeling isn't there anymore?" I asked.

"That's right," he reaffirmed. "And we 

have three children we're really 

concerned about. What do you suggest?"

"love her," I replied.

"I told you, the feeling just isn't there anymore."

"Love her."

"You don't understand. the feeling of love just isn't there."

"Then love her. If the feeling isn't there, 

that's a good reason to love her."

"But how do you love when you don't love?"

"My friend, love is a verb. 

Love - the feeling - is a fruit of love, the verb. 

So love her. Serve her. Sacrifice. 

Listen to her. Empathize. Appreciate. 

Affirm her. Are you willing to do that?”

~ Stephen R. Covey,

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

He May Love You

“..he may love you, he may miss you,

 but ultimately he's just not that into you.”

~ Greg Behrendt, 

He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys

Everything You Want In Life

“Everything you want in life is a relationship away.”

~ Idowu Koyenikan,

  Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability

Love Lasts ABout Seven Years

“Love lasts about seven years.

 That's how long it takes for the cells 

of the body to totally replace themselves.”

~ Francois Sagan

All I Want From You

“All I want from you is to trust

 me with what little you can, 

and grow in loving people around you 

with the same love I share with you. 

It's not your job to change them, 

or to convince them. 

You are free to love without an agenda.”

~ Wm. Paul Young, The Shack

But It Is Impossible

“But it is impossible to go through life without trust;

that is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself.”

~ Graham Greene, The Ministry of Fear

Being Single

“Being single doesn't mean you're weak,

 it means that you're strong enough to wait for the right person.”

~ Niall Horan

I Could've Sworn

“I could’ve sworn I was telling the truth 

when I told you I didn’t miss you.”

~ pleasefindthis, I Wrote This For You

I Don't Understand Dating

“I don't understand dating... 

and the other things that people do... 

all I know is that you ought to find the one you recognize. 

The one who gives you four arms, four legs, 

four eyes, and has the other half of your heart. 

There's only one of those, 

so what are all the other things for? 

Like dating?”

~ C. JoyBell C.