Was It Necessary

“Was it necessary to tell me that you wanted nothing in the world but me?'

The corners of his mouth drooped peevishly.

Oh, my dear, it's rather hard to take quite literally the things a man says 

when he's in love with you.'

Didn't you mean them?'

At the moment.”

~ W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil

I Used To Think

“I used to think -- and given the way we ended up,

maybe I still do -- that all relationships 

need the kind of violent shove that a crush brings,

just to get you started and to push you over the humps.

And then, when the energy from that shove has gone

and you come to something approaching a halt,

you have to look around and see what you've got.

It could be something completely different,

it could be something roughly the same,

but gentler and calmer,

or it could be nothing at all.”

~ Nick Hornby, High Fidelity

Every Incident

“Every incident chips away at your limit. 

Every time you choose to stay,

 it makes the next time that much harder to leave.

 Eventually, you lose sight of your limit altogether, 

because you start to think, ‘I’ve lasted five years now. 

What’s five more?”

~ Colleen Hoover, It Ends with Us

I Used To Think

“I used to think--and given the way we ended up, maybe I still do -- 

that all relationships need the kind of violent shove that a crush brings, 

just to get you started and to push you over the humps. 

And then, when the energy from that shove has gone

 and you come to something approaching a halt, 

you have to look around and see what you've got. 

It could be something completely different, 

it could be something roughly the same, 

but gentler and calmer, or it could be nothing at all.”

~ Nick Hornby, High Fidelity