Inspired Love Quotes

We've searched our database for all the quotes and captions related to Inspired Love. Here they are! All 100 of them:

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You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching, Love like you'll never be hurt, Sing like there's nobody listening, And live like it's heaven on earth.
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William W. Purkey
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Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
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Martin Luther King Jr. (A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches)
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We accept the love we think we deserve.
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Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower)
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The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
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Elie Wiesel
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You can't live your life for other people. You've got to do what's right for you, even if it hurts some people you love.
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Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook (The Notebook, #1))
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When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.
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Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist)
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Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.
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C.S. Lewis (The Four Loves)
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Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
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Rumi (Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi)
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When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.
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Mahatma Gandhi
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What's meant to be will always find a way
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Trisha Yearwood
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Be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved and believes in the goodness in people.
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Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
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If you remember me, then I don't care if everyone else forgets.
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Haruki Murakami (Kafka on the Shore)
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The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.
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J.R.R. Tolkien (The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1))
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Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward. If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.
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Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
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I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass.
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Maya Angelou
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I don't trust people who don't love themselves and tell me, 'I love you.' ... There is an African saying which is: Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.
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Maya Angelou
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I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.
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Robert Fulghum (All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts On Common Things)
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He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much; Who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; Who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; Who has never lacked appreciation of Earth's beauty or failed to express it; Who has left the world better than he found it, Whether an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; Who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had; Whose life was an inspiration; Whose memory a benediction.
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Bessie Anderson Stanley (More Heart Throbs Volume Two in Prose and Verse Dear to the American People And by them contributed as a Supplement to the original $10,000 Prize Book HEART THROBS)
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And, in the end The love you take is equal to the love you make.
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Paul McCartney (The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics)
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More smiling, less worrying. More compassion, less judgment. More blessed, less stressed. More love, less hate.
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Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
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What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again.
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Suzanne Collins (Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3))
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It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.
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Vincent van Gogh
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This life is what you make it. No matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you're going to mess it up. Girls will be your friends - they'll act like it anyway. But just remember, some come, some go. The ones that stay with you through everything - they're your true best friends. Don't let go of them. Also remember, sisters make the best friends in the world. As for lovers, well, they'll come and go too. And baby, I hate to say it, most of them - actually pretty much all of them are going to break your heart, but you can't give up because if you give up, you'll never find your soulmate. You'll never find that half who makes you whole and that goes for everything. Just because you fail once, doesn't mean you're gonna fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't, then who will, sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.
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Marilyn Monroe
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You can talk with someone for years, everyday, and still, it won't mean as much as what you can have when you sit in front of someone, not saying a word, yet you feel that person with your heart, you feel like you have known the person for forever.... connections are made with the heart, not the tongue.
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C. JoyBell C.
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It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.
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Antoine de Saint-ExupΓ©ry (The Little Prince)
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He is half of my soul, as the poets say.
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Madeline Miller (The Song of Achilles)
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A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her.
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Max Lucado
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I was smiling yesterday,I am smiling today and I will smile tomorrow.Simply because life is too short to cry for anything.
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Santosh Kalwar (Quote Me Everyday)
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Top 15 Things Money Can’t Buy Time. Happiness. Inner Peace. Integrity. Love. Character. Manners. Health. Respect. Morals. Trust. Patience. Class. Common sense. Dignity.
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Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
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One love, one heart, one destiny.
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Bob Marley
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Any fool can be happy. It takes a man with real heart to make beauty out of the stuff that makes us weep.
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Clive Barker (Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War)
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And still, after all this time, The sun never says to the earth, "You owe Me." Look what happens with A love like that, It lights the Whole Sky.
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Hafez
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I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, He will not ask, 'How many good things have you done in your life?' rather He will ask, 'How much love did you put into what you did?
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Mother Teresa
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It's not the face, but the expressions on it. It's not the voice, but what you say. It's not how you look in that body, but the thing you do with it. You are beautiful.
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Stephenie Meyer (The Host (The Host, #1))
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Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
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Marianne Williamson (A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles")
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Even if you cannot change all the people around you, you can change the people you choose to be around. Life is too short to waste your time on people who don’t respect, appreciate, and value you. Spend your life with people who make you smile, laugh, and feel loved.
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Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
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Happiness [is] only real when shared
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Jon Krakauer (Into the Wild)
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He’s not perfect. You aren’t either, and the two of you will never be perfect. But if he can make you laugh at least once, causes you to think twice, and if he admits to being human and making mistakes, hold onto him and give him the most you can. He isn’t going to quote poetry, he’s not thinking about you every moment, but he will give you a part of him that he knows you could break. Don’t hurt him, don’t change him, and don’t expect for more than he can give. Don’t analyze. Smile when he makes you happy, yell when he makes you mad, and miss him when he’s not there. Love hard when there is love to be had. Because perfect guys don’t exist, but there’s always one guy that is perfect for you.
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Bob Marley
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You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
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Sharon Salzberg
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Love is the absence of judgment.
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Dalai Lama XIV
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If she's amazing, she won't be easy. If she's easy, she won't be amazing. If she's worth it, you wont give up. If you give up, you're not worthy. ... Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.
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Bob Marley (Bob Marley: Guitar Chord Songbook (Guitar Chord Songbooks))
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To me, Fearless is not the absense of fear. It's not being completely unafraid. To me, Fearless is having fears. Fearless is having doubts. Lots of them. To me, Fearless is living in spite of those things that scare you to death.
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Taylor Swift
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In the end these things matter most: How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you let go?
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Jack Kornfield (Buddha's Little Instruction Book)
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Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.
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Leo Tolstoy
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You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control.
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Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love)
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I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.
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Kurt Cobain
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I wonder how many people don't get the one they want, but end up with the one they're supposed to be with.
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Fannie Flagg (Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (Whistle Stop #1))
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I’ve been fighting to be who I am all my life. What’s the point of being who I am, if I can’t have the person who was worth all the fighting for?
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Stephanie Lennox (I Don't Remember You)
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I want to be in a relationship where you telling me you love me is just a ceremonious validation of what you already show me.
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Steve Maraboli (Life, the Truth, and Being Free)
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The soul is healed by being with children.
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Fyodor Dostoevsky
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What's terrible is to pretend that second-rate is first-rate. To pretend that you don't need love when you do; or you like your work when you know quite well you're capable of better.
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Doris Lessing (The Golden Notebook)
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If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
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Mother Teresa
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So it’s true, when all is said and done, grief is the price we pay for love.
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E.A. Bucchianeri (Brushstrokes of a Gadfly, (Gadfly Saga, #1))
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The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.
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George Washington Burnap (The Sphere and Duties of Woman: A Course of Lectures)
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I sought to hear the voice of God and climbed the topmost steeple, but God declared: "Go down again - I dwell among the people.
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John Henry Newman
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For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge you’ll never walk alone. ... We leave you a tradition with a future. The tender loving care of human beings will never become obsolete. People even more than things have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed and redeemed and redeemed. Never throw out anybody. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you’ll find one at the end of your arm. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands: one for helping yourself, the other for helping others. Your β€œgood old days” are still ahead of you, may you have many of them.
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Sam Levenson (In One Era & Out the Other)
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Romance is the glamour which turns the dust of everyday life into a golden haze.
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Elinor Glyn
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. . . when it comes down to it, that’s what life is all about: showing up for the people you love, again and again, until you can’t show up anymore.
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Rebecca Walker (Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After a Lifetime of Ambivalence)
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I read once that the ancient Egyptians had fifty words for sand & the Eskimos had a hundred words for snow. I wish I had a thousand words for love, but all that comes to mind is the way you move against me while you sleep & there are no words for that.
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Brian Andreas (Story People)
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When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...
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Marcus Aurelius (Meditations)
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Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.
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J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4))
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Hearts are breakable," Isabelle said. "And I think even when you heal, you're never what you were before".
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Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
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Do what you love, love what you do, and with all your heart give yourself to it.
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Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
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We have to allow ourselves to be loved by the people who really love us, the people who really matter. Too much of the time, we are blinded by our own pursuits of people to love us, people that don't even matter, while all that time we waste and the people who do love us have to stand on the sidewalk and watch us beg in the streets! It's time to put an end to this. It's time for us to let ourselves be loved.
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C. JoyBell C.
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Sometimes God allows what he hates to accomplish what he loves.
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Joni Eareckson Tada (The God I Love (Running Press Miniatures))
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Well, now If little by little you stop loving me I shall stop loving you Little by little If suddenly you forget me Do not look for me For I shall already have forgotten you If you think it long and mad the wind of banners that passes through my life And you decide to leave me at the shore of the heart where I have roots Remember That on that day, at that hour, I shall lift my arms And my roots will set off to seek another land
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Pablo Neruda (Selected Poems)
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Shoot for the moon, even if you fail, you'll land among the stars
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Cecelia Ahern (P.S. I Love You (P.S. I Love You, #1))
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True love is not so much a matter of romance as it is a matter of anxious concern for the well-being of one's companion.
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Gordon B. Hinckley (Stand a Little Taller: Counsel and Inspiration for Each Day of the Year)
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It's the kind of kiss that inspires stars to climb into the sky and light up the world.
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Tahereh Mafi (Ignite Me (Shatter Me, #3))
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Promise Yourself To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet. To make all your friends feel that there is something in them To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. To think only the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best. To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble. To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words but great deeds. To live in faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you.
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Christian D. Larson (Your Forces and How to Use Them)
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The only person who can pull me down is myself, and I'm not going to let myself pull me down anymore.
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C. JoyBell C.
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To love and win is the best thing. To love and lose, the next best.
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William Makepeace Thackeray
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The heart is the toughest part of the body. Tenderness is in the hands.
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Carolyn ForchΓ© (The Country Between Us)
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I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world.
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Rainer Maria Rilke (Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God)
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When in a relationship, a real man doesn't make his woman jealous of others, he makes others jealous of his woman.
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Steve Maraboli (Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience)
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Do not seek the because - in love there is no because, no reason, no explanation, no solutions.
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AnaΓ―s Nin (HENRY AND JUNE)
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Life is too short to waste any amount of time on wondering what other people think about you. In the first place, if they had better things going on in their lives, they wouldn't have the time to sit around and talk about you. What's important to me is not others' opinions of me, but what's important to me is my opinion of myself.
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C. JoyBell C.
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You only need one man to love you. But him to love you free like a wildfire, crazy like the moon, always like tomorrow, sudden like an inhale and overcoming like the tides. Only one man and all of this.
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C. JoyBell C.
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I may not always be with you But when we're far apart Remember you will be with me Right inside my heart
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Marc Wambolt (Poems from the Heart)
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The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected. Maybe they always have been and will be. Maybe we've lived a thousand lives before this one and in each of them we've found each other. And maybe each time, we've been forced apart for the same reasons. That means that this goodbye is both a goodbye for the past ten thousand years and a prelude to what will come.
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Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook (The Notebook, #1))
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It's okay,” he said. β€œWe're together.” He didn't say you're okay, or we're alive. After all they'd been through over the last year, he knew that the most important thing was that they were together. She loved him for saying that.
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Rick Riordan (The Mark of Athena (The Heroes of Olympus, #3))
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I have come to accept the feeling of not knowing where I am going. And I have trained myself to love it. Because it is only when we are suspended in mid-air with no landing in sight, that we force our wings to unravel and alas begin our flight. And as we fly, we still may not know where we are going to. But the miracle is in the unfolding of the wings. You may not know where you're going, but you know that so long as you spread your wings, the winds will carry you.
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C. JoyBell C.
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So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.
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Mitch Albom (Tuesdays with Morrie)
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Love: a single word, a wispy thing, a word no bigger or longer than an edge. That's what it is: an edge; a razor. It draws up through the center of your life, cutting everything in two. Before and after. The rest of the world falls away on either side.
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Lauren Oliver (Delirium (Delirium, #1))
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You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
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Sharon Salzberg
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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 complementary way. But it takes a lot of living to grow fully into your own wrongness. And it isn’t until you finally run up against your deepest demons, your unsolvable problemsβ€”the ones that make you truly who you areβ€”that we’re ready to find a lifelong mate. Only then do you finally know what you’re looking for. You’re looking for the wrong person. But not just any wrong person: it's got to be the right wrong personβ€”someone you lovingly gaze upon and think, β€œThis is the problem I want to have.” I will find that special person who is wrong for me in just the right way.
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Andrew Boyd (Daily Afflictions: The Agony of Being Connected to Everything in the Universe)
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If we listened to our intellect we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go in business because we'd be cynical: "It's gonna go wrong." Or "She's going to hurt me." Or,"I've had a couple of bad love affairs, so therefore . . ." Well, that's nonsense. You're going to miss life. You've got to jump off the cliff all the time and build your wings on the way down.
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Ray Bradbury
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Dare to Be When a new day begins, dare to smile gratefully. When there is darkness, dare to be the first to shine a light. When there is injustice, dare to be the first to condemn it. When something seems difficult, dare to do it anyway. When life seems to beat you down, dare to fight back. When there seems to be no hope, dare to find some. When you’re feeling tired, dare to keep going. When times are tough, dare to be tougher. When love hurts you, dare to love again. When someone is hurting, dare to help them heal. When another is lost, dare to help them find the way. When a friend falls, dare to be the first to extend a hand. When you cross paths with another, dare to make them smile. When you feel great, dare to help someone else feel great too. When the day has ended, dare to feel as you’ve done your best. Dare to be the best you can – At all times, Dare to be!
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Steve Maraboli (Life, the Truth, and Being Free)
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Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joyβ€”the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.
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BrenΓ© Brown
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I will love you always. When this red hair is white, I will still love you. When the smooth softness of youth is replaced by the delicate softness of age, I will still want to touch your skin. When your face is full of the lines of every smile you have ever smiled, of every surprise I have seen flash through your eyes, when every tear you have ever cried has left its mark upon your face,I will treasure you all the more, because I was there to see it all. I will share your life with you, Meredith, and I will love you until the last breath leaves your body or mine.
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Laurell K. Hamilton (A Lick of Frost (Merry Gentry, #6))
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I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love, for love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith, but the faith and the love are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
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T.S. Eliot
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You're beautiful, but you're empty...One couldn't die for you. Of course, an ordinary passerby would think my rose looked just like you. But my rose, all on her own, is more important than all of you together, since she's the one I've watered. Since she's the one I put under glass, since she's the one I sheltered behind the screen. Since she's the one for whom I killed the caterpillars (except the two or three butterflies). Since she's the one I listened to when she complained, or when she boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing at all. Since she's my rose.
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Antoine de Saint-ExupΓ©ry (The Little Prince)
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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 and you can't stop running simply because you keep on burning everything that you touch! I say that's a good love; one that burns and flies, and you run with it!
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C. JoyBell C.
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The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.
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Mother Teresa (A Simple Path: Mother Teresa)
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A fight is going on inside me," said an old man to his son. "It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One wolf is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other wolf is good. he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you." The son thought about it for a minute and then asked, "Which wolf will win?" The old man replied simply, "The one you feed.
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Wendy Mass (Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life)
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I've been in love before, it's like a narcotic. At first it brings the euphoria of complete surrender. The next day you want more. You're not addicted yet, but you like the sensation, and you think you can still control things.You think about the person you love for two minutes then forget them for three hours. But then you get used to that person, and you begin to be completely dependent on them. Now you think about him for three hours and forget him for two minutes. If he's not there, you feel like an addict who can't get a fix. And just as addicts steal and humiliate themselves to get what they need, you're willing to do anything for love."- By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
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Paulo Coelho
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It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing. It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive. It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human. It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithlessand therefore trustworthy. I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day,and if you can source your own life from its presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, β€œYes!” It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children. It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back. It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
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Oriah Mountain Dreamer
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If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
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Rudyard Kipling (If: A Father's Advice to His Son)
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Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love – for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you from misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
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Max Ehrmann (Desiderata: A Poem for a Way of Life)
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Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple β€œI must,” then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse. Then come close to Nature. Then, as if no one had ever tried before, try to say what you see and feel and love and lose... ...Describe your sorrows and desires, the thoughts that pass through your mind and your belief in some kind of beauty - describe all these with heartfelt, silent, humble sincerity and, when you express yourself, use the Things around you, the images from your dreams, and the objects that you remember. If your everyday life seems poor, don’t blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because for the creator there is not poverty and no poor, indifferent place. And even if you found yourself in some prison, whose walls let in none of the world’s sounds – wouldn’t you still have your childhood, that jewel beyond all price, that treasure house of memories? Turn your attentions to it. Try to raise up the sunken feelings of this enormous past; your personality will grow stronger, your solitude will expand and become a place where you can live in the twilight, where the noise of other people passes by, far in the distance. - And if out of this turning-within, out of this immersion in your own world, poems come, then you will not think of asking anyone whether they are good or not. Nor will you try to interest magazines in these works: for you will see them as your dear natural possession, a piece of your life, a voice from it. A work of art is good if it has arisen out of necessity. That is the only way one can judge it.
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Rainer Maria Rilke