Love Doesn't Have To Be

“Love doesn’t have to be on Valentine’s Day.

 It doesn’t have to be by the time you turn eighteen or thirty-three or fifty-nine.

 It doesn’t have to conform to whatever is usual.

 It doesn’t have to be kismet at once, 

or rhapsody by the third day.

It just has to be. 

In time.

 In place.

 In spirit.

It just has to be.”

~ David Levithan, How They Met, and Other Stories

If I Say

“If I say your voice is an amber waterfall in which I yearn to burn each day,

 if you eat my mouth like a mystical rose with powers of healing and damnation,

If I confess that your body is the only civilization I long to experience… 

would it mean that we are close to knowing something about love?”

~ Aberjhani, Visions of a Skylark Dressed in Black

Why Does Anyone Stay

“Why does anyone stay in an unhappy relationship? 

Because people do. They do it all the time. 

And the truth is, when you’re in it, 

when you’re up to your neck in the everyday part of life with another human being,

sometimes you don’t exactly notice how bad things really are.

 It’s not always as apparent as it would seem. 

Unhappiness, when it involves another person, 

can be like that line from The Sun Also Rises about going bankrupt, 

how it happens two ways: gradually, and then suddenly.”

~ Sarah Dunn

He Thought About This

“He thought about this for a second. 

"True. But if you never really make friends, 

you probably don't have anyone to be your 2 a.m. 

Which would kind of suck. I just looked at him as he stirred his soup, 

carrots spinning in the liquid. "Your what?"

"Two a.m." He swallowed, then said, 

"You know. The person you can call at two a.m. and, 

no matter what, you can count on them. 

Even if they're asleep or it's cold or you need to be bailed out of jail...

they'll come for you. It's, like, the highest level of friendship.”

~ Sarah Dessen, What Happened to Goodbye