Henry: “I’m afraid of losing you.”
Clare smiles. “How could you lose me? I’m not going anywhere.”
“I worry that you will get tired of putting up with my undependableness and you will leave me.”
“But I never want to leave you.”
Clare puts her sketchbook aside. I sit up. “I won’t ever leave you,” she says. “Even though you’re always leaving me.”
“But I never want to leave you.”

Do you ever get that feeling where you don’t want to talk to anybody? You don’t want to smile and you don’t want to fake being happy but at the same time you don’t know exactly what’s wrong either, there isn’t a way to explain it to someone who doesn’t already understand. If you could want anything in the world it would be to be alone. People have stopped being comforting and being alone never was. At least when you’re alone no one constantly asks you what’s wrong and there isn’t anyone who won’t take “I don’t know” for an answer. You feel the way you do just because. You hope the feeling will pass soon and that you will be able to be yourself again, but until then all you can do is wait.

-eletheowl

“What about you? Are you the happiest and the saddest right now that you’ve ever been?”

“Of course I am.”

“Why?”

“Because nothing makes me happier and nothing makes me sadder than you.”

-Nicole Krauss (in The History Of Love)

“You know what I love most about us? I love how comfortable we are with each other. I love how we endlessly make fun of each other, but never take the teasing to heart. I absolutely adore how when I turn away from you when we’re fighting, you try to stay mad, then run after me. I love the look in your eyes when we kiss or how you stay up to watch me sleep. I love how I can call you anytime when I need someone and somehow you never cease to make me laugh. I love how you need me as much as i need you. And most of all, I love how you love me.”
-runawaytrain.tumblr

The thing about you is you’re fun, you make me laugh, and you make me feel more alive. Okay, you make me a little crazy sometimes, but there are these moments in my mind, crystal-clear images of you and me and how we fit together, and it all makes such perfect sense, and I know what I want; I want you.

No one gets to me the way you do,

the way you talk to me,

the way you look at me,

the way you smile at me,

I’m telling you,

no one gets to me the way you do.

“I know he’s not perfect, but he trys so hard for me. And I thank God for that cause how boring would that be? It’s the little imperfections, it’s the sudden change of plans. When he misreads the directions and we’re lost. But holding hands - I live for little moments like that.”

“Ultimately, I’m looking for someone I can talk to about anything and everything, who I don’t have to filter myself around, someone I can cry in front of or tell my biggest fears or most embarrassing secrets, someone who I know isn’t judging me, and who, in return, will open up to me. There’s plenty that goes on in my head that I don’t share with even my closest friends; as revealing as I may be about my sex life, I’m actually fairly private about quite a bit. It’s rare to find someone I can truly let go with, but that’s what I want in the future: someone who lets me be me.”

“It’s not about being who someone else wants you to be. It’s about being completely yourself and finding someone who loves each and every bit of it. Someone who loves your laugh and your smile and the sound of your voice and the things you say. Someone who loves you even when you’re in a bad mood or when your face is red and puffy with tears.”

“If you ask why I’m not interested in someone, I might say their nose is too big, or they don’t know how to dress, or they’re too thin or too fat or too plain. But the truth is, I only notice those things because of the real reason— that I’m just not feeling anything. But people don’t want to hear that. They always want an explanation. So I have to come up with something concrete even though feelings aren’t like that. If I did meet a guy and I felt happy with him for whatever reason, I wouldn’t give a rat’s ass what he wore or how tall he was or what he did for a living. But when I’m with someone and it just doesn’t feel right, that’s when I start noticing the bad haircut or Chicago accent or unibrow. And it’s true that tomorrow I may go home with someone who you think is totally wrong for me. And the next day I might meet a perfectly nice guy who you think I should feel excited about, but I don’t. But if I do go home with someone, it means for a change, something feels right. For a change, I’m feeling hopeful. I just want to feel happy when I’m with someone.”

-Caren Lissner, Starting From Square Two

“Just for future reference, don't use words like "love" anymore. It's a very sensitive word and it wears out quickly. Romeo barely says it, but John Hinckley filled up a whole journal with it. To put it into your terms, it's a currency that's easily devalued. Pretty soon you're saying it whenever you hang up the phone or whenever you leave. It turns into an apology. Then it's an excuse. Some assholes want it to be a bulletproof vest: don't hate me; I love you. But mostly it just means - more. More, more - give me something more. A couple of years from now, when you're on your own completely, if you really fall in love, if it really comes to that - and I pity you if it does - you have to look right down into the black of her eyes, right down into the emptiness in there and feel everything, absolutely everything she needs and you have to be willing to drown in it. You'd have to want to be crushed, buried alive. Because that's what real love feels like - choking. They used to bury some women in their wedding dresses, you know. I thought it was because all those husbands were too cheap to spring for another gown, but now it makes sense: love is your first foot in the grave. That's why the second most abused word is "forever".”

“For once in my life, I don’t have to try to be happy.
When I’m with you, it just happens.”

“Do you know what girls want? They want real conversations and real love. We want cute dates together, nothing expensive. The truth is we only want to be with you. We want to hold hands and lie beneath the stars. We want to be able to say something stupid and not worry about it. We want a guy that will love us for nothing but being us: plain and simple.”

“Our love is a book that has been written for centuries, out of our control, and yet we get to revise it, add to it every day. We are the lucky ones. We found each other, and early at that. So don’t worry, my love, about loving me a certain amount. You are teaching me how to love and it feels a lot like learning to walk again on stiff, underused legs. But I’m learning and I’m running to you.”

-Anais Escobar

I’ll always remember that night that you looked into my eyes.
You looked deep inside and found something no one ever saw.
I’ll always remember the night that we stared at each other for a little too long.
You took me as I was and never questioned my values.
I’ll always remember the night that we became more than friends.
You saw a different side of me, and I took you for all you were.