30 Quotes That Will Make You Rethink What “Love” Means

“That’s when I finally got it. I finally understood. It wasn’t the thought that counted. It was the actual execution that mattered, the showing up for somebody. The intent behind it wasn’t enough. Not for me. Not anymore. It wasn’t enough to know that deep down, he loved me. You had to actually say i…”

— Jenny Han, amazon.com

“It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche, goodreads.com

“People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that’s what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important p…”

— Elizabeth Gilbert, amazon.com

“For many, love is a two-sided coin. It can strengthen or stifle, expand or enfeeble, perfect or pauperize. When love is returned, we soar. We are taken to heights unseen, where it delights, invigorates, and beautifies. When love is spurned, we feel crippled, disconsolate, and bereaved. Polish the co…”

— Colleen Houck, goodreads.com

“Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.”

— Anaïs Nin, amazon.com

“No relationship is perfect, ever. There are always some ways you have to bend, to compromise, to give something up in order to gain something greater…The love we have for each other is bigger than these small differences. And that’s the key. It’s like a big pie chart, and the love in a relationship…”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell.”

— Joan Crawford, brainyquote.com

“The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds. And that’s what you’ve given me. That’s what I’d hoped to give you forever.”

— Nicholas Sparks, amazon.com

“I heard what you said. I’m not the silly romantic you think. I don’t want the heavens or the shooting stars. I don’t want gemstones or gold. I have those things already. I want…a steady hand. A kind soul. I want to fall asleep, and wake, knowing my heart is safe. I want to love, and be loved.”

— Shana Abe, goodreads.com

“Sometimes it’s a form of love just to talk to somebody that you have nothing in common with and still be fascinated by their presence.”

— David Byrne, goodreads.com

“I no longer believed in the idea of soul mates, or love at first sight. But I was beginning to believe that a very few times in your life, if you were lucky, you might meet someone who was exactly right for you. Not because he was perfect, or because you were, but because your combined flaws were ar…”

— Lisa Kleypas, amazon.com

“As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.”

— John Green, amazon.com

“When love is not madness it is not love.”

— Pedro Calderón de la Barca, goodreads.com

“Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness,…”

— Louis de Bernieres, amazon.com

“Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.”

— C.S Lewis, amazon.com

“Sometimes love means letting go when you want to hold on tighter.”

— Melissa Marr, amazon.com

“Anyone who falls in love is searching for the missing pieces of themselves. So anyone who’s in love gets sad when they think of their lover. It’s like stepping back inside a room you have fond memories of, one you haven’t seen in a long time.”

— Haruki Murakami, amazon.com

“I do not trust people who don’t love themselves and yet tell me, I love you. There is an African saying which is: 'Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.'”

— Maya Angelou, en.wikiquote.org

“For the two of us, home isn’t a place. It is a person. And we are finally home.”

— Stephanie Perkins, amazon.com

“Love is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise. If love were only a feeling, there would be no basis for the promise to love each other forever. A feeling comes and it may go. How can I judge that it will stay forever, when my act does not involve judgment and decision.”

— Erich Fromm, amazon.com

“You think because he doesn’t love you that you are worthless. You think that because he doesn’t want you anymore that he is right — that his judgement and opinion of you are correct. If he throws you out, then you are garbage. You think he belongs to you because you want to belong to him. Don’t. It’…”

— Toni Morrison, amazon.com

“We’re all seeking that special person who is right for us. But if you’ve been through enough relationships, you begin to suspect there’s no right person, just different flavors of wrong. Why is this? Because you yourself are wrong in some way, and you seek out partners who are wrong in some compleme…”

— Andrew Boyd, amazon.com

“Anyone who loves in the expectation of being loved in return is wasting their time.”

— Paulo Coelho, amazon.com

“Letting go doesn’t mean that you don’t care about someone anymore. It’s just realizing that the only person you really have control over is yourself.”

— Deborah Reber, amazon.com

“The course of true love never did run smooth.”

— William Shakespeare, Lysander, amazon.com

“Perhaps the reason we are unable to love is that we yearn to be loved, that is, we demand something (love) from our partner instead of delivering ourselves up to him demand-free and asking for nothing but his company.”

— Milan Kundera, amazon.com

“For my part, I prefer my heart to be broken. It is so lovely, dawn-kaleidoscopic within the crack.”

— D. H. Lawrence, amazon.com

“They say a good love is one that sits you down, gives you a drink of water, and pats you on top of the head. But I say a good love is one that casts you into the wind, sets you ablaze, makes you burn through the skies and ignite the night like a phoenix; the kind that cuts you loose like a wildfire…”

— C. Joybell C., lovequotes.net.in

“Most men claim to desire driven, independent and confident women. Yet when confronted with such a creature reverence often evolves into resent. For just like women, men need to be needed.”

— Tiffany Madison, goodreads.com

“The heart has its reasons which reason knows not.”

— Blaise Pascal, amazon.fr