Until We Can Receive

“Until we can receive with an open heart, 

we are never really giving with an open heart.”

~ Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

A Broken Heart

“A broken heart is just the growing pains 

necessary so that you can love more completely 

when the real thing comes along.”

~ J.S.B. Morse, Now and at the Hour of Our Death

She Was Broken

“She was broken, 

I think it’s because 

she loved too much 

and she was always blind 

to the fact 

that love too 

is sometimes broken.”

~ Robert M. Drake

In Her Usual Manner

“In her usual manner, Merkel spoke in German. 

It is worth pointing out, however, 

that before the translator had an opportunity to convert her statements to English, 

Obama gave the chancellor and the press a big smile, saying, 

‘I think what she said was good. I’m teasing.’ 

The laughter in the room drowned out 

the sounds of the cameras clicking and flashing,

 with Merkel’s giggle and smile among the loudest.”

~ Claudia Clark, Dear Barack: 
The Extraordinary Partnership of Barack Obama and Angela Merkel

Theresa

“Theresa, I know there's a part of you that believes 

you can change someone, 

but the reality is that you can't. 

You can change yourself, 

and Garrett can change himself, 

but you can't do it for him.”

~ Nicholas Sparks, Message in a Bottle

People Generally

“People generally didn't cheat in good relationships.”

~ Emily Giffin, Something Blue

I Know

“I know I'm not going to be in your head all the time. 

But once you know me, I'll be forever in your heart. ”

~ Crystal Woods, Write like no one is reading

A Friend

“A friend is someone whose face you can see in the dark.”

~ Frances O'Roark Dowell, The Secret Language of Girls

It Is Necessary

“It is necessary to fall in love – 

the better to provide an alibi for all the despair 

we are going to feel anyway.”

~ Albert Camus

My Love Is Pizza Shaped

“My love is pizza-shaped. 

Won’t you have a slice? 

It’s circular, so there’s enough to go around.”

~ Dora J. Arod, Love quotes for the ages. And the ageless sages.

I Have To Go

“I have to go. 

I have a finite amount of life left 

and I don't want to spend it arguing with you.”

~ Jennifer Armintrout, Ashes to Ashes

Trust And Faith

“Trust and faith bring joy to life 

and help relationships grow to their maximum potential.”

~Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: 

Winning the Battle in Your Mind

Every Configuration Of People

“Every configuration of people 

is an entirely new universe unto itself.”

~ Kristin Cashore, Bitterblue

Don't Answer The Door

“Don't answer the door in a wedding dress and veil, 

he might not think you're joking.”

~ Amy Sedaris, I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence

Annabeth Realized

“Annabeth realized that if six of them 

went on these two quests, 

it would leave Percy alone 

on the ship with Coach Hedge, 

which was maybe not a situation 

a caring girlfriend should put him in. 

Nor was she eager to let Percy 

out of her sight again—

not after they’d been apart 

for so many months.”

~ Rick Riordan, The Mark of Athena

Having A Sister Or A Friend

“Having a sister or a friend 

is like sitting at night in a lighted house. 

Those outside can watch you if they want, 

but you need not see them. 

You simply say, 

"Here are the perimeters of our attention. 

If you prowl around under the windows

 till the crickets go silent, 

we will pull the shades. 

If you wish us to suffer your envious curiosity, 

you must permit us not to notice it." 

Anyone with one solid human bond is that smug, 

and it is the smugness as much as the comfort and safety 

that lonely people covet and admire.”

~ Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping

The Truth

“The truth is I didn’t need therapy; 

I just needed to feel loved 

and know that someone out there craved my attention.”

~ Robert M. Drake

Love Has No Limitations

“Love has no limitations. 

It cannot be measured. 

It has no boundaries. 

Although many have tried, 

love is indefinable.”

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

She

“She is delightfully chaotic; 

a beautiful mess. 

Loving her is a splendid adventure.”

~ Steve Maraboli

Some Of The Biggest Challenges

“Some of the biggest challenges in relationships 

come from the fact that most people enter a relationship 

in order to get something: 

they're trying to find someone who's going to make them feel good. 

In reality, the only way a relationship will last 

is if you see your relationship as a place that you go to give, 

and not a place that you go to take. ”

~ Anthony Robbins

I Had A Dream About You

“I had a dream about you last night. 

The champagne was non-alcoholic. 

You didn't notice, and laughed at my jokes anyway.”

~ Michael Summers, I Had a Dream About You

Basically

“Basically, all women are nurturers and healers, 

and all men are mental patients to varying degrees.”

~ Nelson DeMille, The General's Daughter

To Be Deeply Loved

“To be deeply loved, 

means a willingness to cut yourself wide open, 

exposing your vulnerabilities... 

hopes, hurts, fears and flaws. 

Hiding behind the highlight reel of who you are, 

is the real you and that person is just as worthy of love. 

There is nothing more terrifying or fulfilling, 

than complete love, it's worth the risk... 

reach for it.”

~ Jaeda DeWalt

Daughter!

“Daughter! 

Get you an honest Man for a Husband, 

and keep him honest. 

No matter whether he is rich, 

provided he is independent. 

Regard the Honour and moral Character of the Man 

more than all other Circumstances. 

Think of no other Greatness but that of the soul, 

no other Riches but those of the Heart. 

An honest, Sensible humane Man, 

above all the Littlenesses of Vanity, 

and Extravagances of Imagination, 

laboring to do good rather than be rich, 

to be useful rather than make a show, 

living in a modest Simplicity 

clearly within his Means and free from Debts or Obligations, 

is really the most respectable Man in Society, 

makes himself and all about him the most happy.”

~ John Adams, Letters of John Adams, Addressed to His Wife

Women Writers

“Women writers make for rewarding (and efficient) lovers. 

They are clever liars to fathers and husbands; 

yet they never hold their tongues too long, 

nor keep ardent typing fingers still.”

~ Roman Payne, Rooftop Soliloquy

Time Has Its Revenges

“Time has its revenges, but revenge seems so often sour. 

Wouldn’t we all do better not trying to understand, 

accepting the fact that no human being will ever understand another, 

not a wife with a husband, nor a parent a child? 

Perhaps that’s why men have invented God – 

a being capable of understanding.”

~ Graham Greene, The Quiet American

Then You Must Tell 'Em

 “Then you must tell 'em 

dat love ain't somethin' lak uh grindstone 

dat's de same thing everywhere

 and do de same thing tuh everything it touch. 

Love is lak de sea.

 It's uh movin' thing, but still and all,

 it takes its shape from de shore it meets, 

and it's different with every shore.”

~ Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

Where The Lips Are Silent

“Where the lips are silent 

the heart has a thousand tongues.”

~ Rumi, The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing

Truth Is

“Truth is, 

something that I thought was perfect 

was taken away from me, 

and I never wanted perfect again.

 I wanted middle-of-the-road, 

stuff I didn’t care about 

so that I couldn’t lose anything 

I really loved ever again.”

~ Cecelia Ahern, The Time of My Life

Until We Can Receive

“Until we can receive with an open heart,

we are never really giving with an open heart.”

~ Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

To Gaze Into Another Person's Face

“To gaze into another person's face is to do two things: 

to recognize their humanity 

and to assert your own.”

~ Lawrence Hill, Someone Knows My Name

Never Judge

“Never judge someone by their relatives.”

~ Charles Martin, Chasing Fireflies

Bathsheba Loved Troy

“Bathsheba loved Troy in the way that only self-reliant women love 

when they abandon their self-reliance. 

When a strong woman recklessly throws away her strength 

she is worse than a weak woman who has never any strength to throw away. 

One source of her inadequacy is the novelty of the occasion. 

She has never had practice in making the best of such a condition. 

Weakness is doubly weak by being new.”

~ Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd

Theresa

“Theresa, I know there's a part of you that believes you can change someone, 

but the reality is that you can't. 

You can change yourself, and Garrett can change himself, 

but you can't do it for him.”

~ Nicholas Sparks, Message in a Bottle

People

“People generally didn't cheat in good relationships.”

~ Emily Giffin, Something Blue

I Know I'm Not Going to Be

“I know I'm not going to be in your head all the time.

 But once you know me, 

I'll be forever in your heart. ”

~ Crystal Woods, Write like no one is reading

If You're Right & I'm Not

“If you're right & I'm not, 

I'm going to be hell to live with, she said. 

So, you better think about that 

next time you want to be right. ”

~ Brian Andreas

But I Think We Both Knew

“But I think we both knew, even then, 

that what we had was something even more rare, 

and even more meaningful.

 I was going to be his friend 

and was going to show him possibilities.

 And he, in turn, would become someone 

I could trust more than myself.”

~ David Levithan, Boy Meets Boy

Time Has Its Revenges

“Time has its revenges, but revenge seems so often sour. 

Wouldn’t we all do better not trying to understand,

 accepting the fact that no human being will ever understand another,

 not a wife with a husband, nor a parent a child?

 Perhaps that’s why men have invented God –

 a being capable of understanding. ”

~ Graham Greene, The Quiet American

Women Writers

“Women writers make for rewarding (and efficient) lovers. 

They are clever liars to fathers and husbands; 

yet they never hold their tongues too long, 

nor keep ardent typing fingers still.”

~ Roman Payne, Rooftop Soliloquy

It Seems To Me

“It seems to me that if you place music 

(and books, probably, and films, and plays, 

and anything that makes you feel) 

at the center of your being, 

then you can’t afford to sort out your love life, 

start to think of it as the finished product. 

You’ve got to pick at it, 

keep it alive and in turmoil, 

you’ve got to pick at it and unravel it 

until it all comes apart

 and you’re compelled to start all over again.

 Maybe we all live life at too high a pitch, 

those of us who absorb emotional things all day,

 and as a consequence we can never feel merely content:

 we have to be unhappy, or ecstatically,

 head-over-heels happy, 

and those states are difficult to achieve 

within a stable, solid relationship.”

~ Nick Hornby

If I Lived A Million Lives

“If I lived a million lives, 

I would've felt a million feelings 

and I still would've fallen a million times for you.”

~ Robert M. Drake

Madness

“Madness and chaos are self-destructing 

but overthinking is the suicide.”

~ Robert M. Drake

Truth

“Truth builds trust.”

~ Marilyn Suttle

You Know Why

“You know why people pair up into couples? 

Because being a human is fucking terrifying. 

But it's a hell of a lot easier if you're not doing it by yourself.”

~ Alice Oseman, Loveless

You Get Lonely Is What It Is

“You get lonely, is what it is. 

A person's not supposed to go through life with absolutely nobody. 

It's not normal. 

The longer you go by yourself the weirder you get, 

and the weirder you get the longer you go by yourself. 

It's a loop and you gotta do something to get out of it.”

~ Jim Shepard

There Are So Many Movies Like This

“There are so many movies like this, 

where you thought you were smarter than the screen 

but the director was smarter than you, 

of course he's the one, 

of course it was a dream, 

of course she's dead, 

of course, it's hidden right there, 

of course it's the truth and you in your seat 

have failed to notice in the dark.”

~ Daniel Handler, Why We Broke Up

You'll Blow Up A Helicopter

“You'll blow up a helicopter, but you won't go out with me?

 What is wrong with you?”

~ Meg Cabot, When Lightning Strikes

There Are So Many Movies

“There are so many movies like this, 

where you thought you were smarter than the screen 

but the director was smarter than you, 

of course he's the one, of course it was a dream, 

of course she's dead, of course, it's hidden right there, 

of course it's the truth and you in your seat 

have failed to notice in the dark.”

~ Daniel Handler, Why We Broke Up 

Love Him

“Love him,’ said Jacques, with vehemence,

 ‘love him and let him love you. 

Do you think anything else 

under heaven really matters? 

And how long, at the best, can it last, 

since you are both men 

and still have everywhere to go? 

Only five minutes, I assure you, only five minutes, 

and most of that, helas! in the dark. 

And if you think of them as dirty, 

then they will be dirty— 

they will be dirty because you will be giving nothing,

 you will be despising your flesh and his. 

But you can make your time together anything but dirty, 

you can give each other something which will make both of you better—

forever—if you will not be ashamed, if you will only not play it safe.’ 

He paused, watching me, and then looked down to his cognac. 

‘You play it safe long enough,’ he said, in a different tone, 

‘and you’ll end up trapped in your own dirty body, 

forever and forever and forever—

like me.”

~ James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room