When We Fail To Set Boundaries

“When we fail to set boundaries 

and hold people accountable, 

we feel used and mistreated. 

This is why we sometimes attack 

who they are, which is far more hurtful than 

addressing a behavior or a choice.”

~ Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

When Forever Becomes A Place

“When forever becomes a place...

when forever ceases to be just a word… 

when it ceases to be just a measurement of time…

but instead becomes a place 

where soul mates can dance to the song in their hearts... 

that is a reflection of true love.”

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

Your Absence

“Your absence has not taught me to be alone,

 it merely has shown that when together 

we cast a single shadow on the wall.”

~ Doug Fetherling

I Hope We'll Be Friends Forever

“I hope we'll be friends forever,

 together we'll always be. 

I don't think you understand 

just how much you mean to me. 

And one day when we part our ways, 

we'll think back to the past 

and think about how happy we are 

'cause our friendship will always last.”

~ Bridget Davis

But In The Real World

“But in the real world, you couldn't really 

just split a family down the middle, mom on one side, 

dad on the other, with the child equally divided between.

 It was like when you ripped a piece of paper into two: 

no matter how you tried, the seams never fit exactly right again.

 It was what you couldn't see, those tiniest of pieces, 

that were lost in the severing, and their 

absence kept everything from being complete.”

~ Sarah Dessen, What Happened to Goodbye

Caring About Someone

“Caring about someone isn't complicated. 

It isn't easy. But it isn't complicated, either. 

Kinda like lifting the engine block out of a car.”

~ Jim Butcher, Small Favor

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.

Caring About Someone

“Caring about someone isn't complicated. 

It isn't easy. 

But it isn't complicated, either. 

Kinda like lifting the engine block out of a car.”

~ Jim Butcher, Small Favor

Siblings

“Siblings: children of the same parents, 

each of whom is perfectly normal until they get together.”

~ Sam Levenson

If A Man

If a man can possess a woman sexually

 -really possess- 

he won't need to control her ideas, 

her opinions, her clothes, 

her friends, even her other lovers.”

~ Toni Bentley

The Love Of Which I Speak

“This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience - 

it looks for a way of being constructive.

Love is not possessive.

Love is not anxious to impress nor does it 

cherish inflated ideas of its own ideas.

Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage.

Love is not touchy.

Love does not keep account of evil or 

gloat over the wickedness of other people. 

On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.

Love knows no limits to its endurance, 

no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; 

it can outlast anything. 

It is, in fact, the one thing that stands when all else has fallen.”

~ Elisabeth Elliot, Let Me be a Woman

No Matter How Close We Are

“No matter how close we are to another person, 

few human relationships are as free from strife, 

disagreement, and frustration as is the relationship 

you have with a good dog. 

Few human beings give of themselves to 

another as a dog gives of itself. 

I also suspect that we cherish dogs because 

their unblemished souls make us wish - 

consciously or unconsciously - 

that we were as innocent as they are, 

and make us yearn for a place where innocence 

is universal and where the meanness, 

the betrayals, and the cruelties of this world are unknown.”

~ Dean Koontz, A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog

The Opposite of Love

“...the opposite of love is not hate -- it's apathy. 

It's not giving a damn. 

If somebody hates me, they must "feel" something ... 

or they couldn't possibly hate. 

Therefore, there's some way in which I can get to them.”

~ Leo F. Buscaglia

Making Love

“Making love to me is amazing. 

Wait, I meant: making love, to me, is amazing. 

The absence of two little commas 

nearly transformed me into a sex god.”

~ Dark Jar Tin Zoo, 

Love Quotes for the Ages. Specifically Ages 19-91

Contiguous

"contiguous, adj.

I felt silly for even mentioning it, 

but once I did, I knew I had to explain.

"When I was a kid, "I had this puzzle with all fifty states on it--

you know, the kind where you have to fit them all together. 

And one day I got it in my head that California and Nevada were in love. 

I told my mom, and she had no idea what I was talking about. 

I ran and got those two pieces and showed it to her--

California and Nevada, completely in love. 

So a lot of the time when we're like this"--

my ankles against the backs of your ankles, 

my knees fitting into the backs of your knees, 

my thighs on the backs of your legs, 

my stomach against your back, my chin folding into your neck--

"I can't help but think about California and Nevada, 

and how we're a lot like them. 

If someone were drawing us from above as a map. 

That's what we'd look like; that's how we are."

For a moment, you were quiet. 

And then you nestled in and whispered.

"Contiguous."

And I knew you understood.”'

~ David Levithan, The Lover's Dictionary