“If you were all alone in the universe with no one to talk to, no one with which to share the beauty of the stars, to laugh with, to touch, what would be your purpose in life? It is other life; it is love, which gives your life meaning. This is harmony. We must discover the joy of each other, the joy of challenge, the joy of growth.”
– Mitsugi Saotome
“I define love thus: The will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.”
– M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spiritual Growth
“I shall do one thing in this life-one thing certain-this is, love you, and long of you, and keep wanting you till I die.”
– Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd
“Then again, you cannot stop the flood of desire as it moves through the world, inappropriate though it may sometimes be. It is the prerogative of all humans to make ludicrous choices, to fall in love with the most unlikely of partners, and to set themselves up for the most predictable of calamities.”
– Elizabeth Gilbert, Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage
“Maybe that’s what it all comes down to. Love, not as a surge of passion, but as a choice to commit to something, someone, no matter what obstacles or temptations stand in the way. And maybe making that choice, again and again, day in and day out, year after year, says more about love than never having a choice to make at all.”
– Emily Giffin, Love the One Your’re With
“He owned a whole world full of memories, of lovely moments relived and happy recollections. I’m not saying he was happy or that he didn’t suffer. He suffered very much, but he did not despair; he still drew nourishment from what he had been given. But the sadness never left him. Happiness needs more than memories of the past to feed on; it also needs dreams of the future.”
– Jorge Amado
