“She did not need much, wanted very little. A kind word, sincerity, fresh air, clean water, a garden, kisses, books to read, sheltering arms, a cosy bed, and to love and be loved in return.”

--Starra Neely Blade

"It is a miracle if you can find true friends, and it is a miracle if you have enough food to eat, and it is a miracle if you get to spend your days and evenings doing whatever it is you like to do, and the holiday season--like all the other seasons--is a good time not only to tell stories of miracles, but to think about the miracles in your own life, and to be grateful for them."

--Lemony Snicket, 'The Lump of Coal'

“But luxury has never appealed to me, I like simple things, books, being alone, or with somebody who understands.”

--Daphne du Maurier

“Most of our childhood is stored not in photos, but in certain biscuits, lights of day, smells, textures of carpet…”

--Alain de Botton

“My advice is to go ahead and wear an apron when you’re cooking dinner. Always send a handwritten thank you note on your personal stationary. Enjoy tea served from an actual tea pot. Put your cigarettes in a case. Dream. Dress up when you go out. Be polite. Believe in art and its incredible power to reach across ethnic and social boundaries to enhance our souls. Ditch the handhelds when you’re out. Listen to Mozart. Watch “It Happened One Night”. Live elegantly. And enjoy it while it lasts.”

--Unknown

“Find a woman who makes you feel more alive. She won’t make life perfect but she’ll make it infinitely more interesting. And then love her with all that’s in you.”

--Gayle G. Roper, 'Shadows on the Sand: A Seaside Mystery'

"The number one rule in relationships, from what I hear, is to never just leave."

--Frank Ocean

“In relationships, the little things are the big things.”

--Stephen Covey

“Fight for one another, not with one another.”

--Mark Driscoll

“No matter how often I think I can’t stand it anymore, I always do. There is no alternative. I don’t fall, I don’t foam at the mouth, faint, collapse or die. It’s the same for all of us. You can’t get out of the inside of your own head. Something keeps you going. Something always does.”

--Janice Galloway, 'The Trick Is to Keep Breathing'

“Talking about our problems is our greatest addiction. Break the habit, talk about your joys.”

--Rita Schiano

"The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."

--Harper Lee, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

“It takes time to live. Like any work of art, life needs to be thought about.”

--Albert Camus

“Being must be felt. It can’t be thought.”

--Eckhart Tolle

“To hell with them. Nothing hurts if you don’t let it.”

--Ernest Hemingway

“We would be together and have our books and at night be warm in bed together with the windows open and the stars bright.”

--Ernest Hemingway

"Knowing people is overrated. Understanding people is underrated."

--@sacca

“People inspire you, or they drain you — pick them wisely.”

--Hans F. Hansen

“I don’t want people to matter to me too much. Sometimes it hurts too much to think about them. Ones you love who don’t love you, ones who are dead or hate you, ones who you think about but never get to be with. I like people but when I get too close, it fucks me up and I can’t get things done.”

--Henry Rollins

“Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being.”

--Albert Schweitzer

“There are only so many of us born at a time and we are thrown into the world to find each other, to find the other ones who don’t think you’re strange, who understand your jokes, your smile, the way you talk. There are only so many of us born at a time and we only have so long to find each other before we die. But we have to try.”

--I Wrote This For You

“A soul connection is a resonance between two people who respond to the essential beauty of each other’s individual natures, behind their facades, and who connect on this deeper level. This kind of mutual recognition provides the catalyst for a potent alchemy. It is a sacred alliance whose purpose is to help both partners discover and realize their deepest potentials. While a heart connection lets us appreciate those we love just as they are, a soul connection opens up a further dimension — seeing and loving them for who they could be, and for who we could become under their influence. This means recognizing that we both have an important part to play in helping each other become more fully who we are….A soul connection not only inspires us to expand, but also forces us to confront whatever stands in the way of that expansion.”

--John Welwood