“
if I am the longest relationship
of my life
isn't it time to
nurture intimacy
and love
with the person
I lie in bed with each night
”
”
Rupi Kaur (The sun and her flowers)
“
You’re too hard on yourself,’she said. ‘You can do long-term love. You’ve done it better than anyone I know.’
‘How? My longest relationship was two years and that was over when I was twenty-four.’
‘I’m talking about you and me, ’she said
”
”
Dolly Alderton (Everything I Know about Love: A Memoir)
“
Friendship isn't about whom you have known the longest... It's about who came, and never left your side. ♥
”
”
Mikaela Tiu
“
and then you stopped. And looked at me. And I knew then exactly what was going to happen. You kissed me, yes. But it was not just goodnight. Even then, I could feel the promise in it. The promise that you would kiss me just like that, forever.
”
”
Nicholas Sparks (The Longest Ride)
“
Not sure I get why this shit’s a secret but you two bein’ just a hookup is not where that’s at. Unless you’re going’for the all-time record of longest hookup, and, just a head’s up, brother, there’s another way people refer to that shit and it’s called a relationship.
”
”
Kristen Ashley (Fire Inside (Chaos, #2))
“
The happiest, healthiest, and longest lasting relationships happen when each partner is secure and whole within themselves.
”
”
Pamela Cummins (Psychic Wisdom on Love and Relationships)
“
Good relationships keep us happier, healthier, and help us live longer.
”
”
Robert Waldinger (The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness)
“
paleontology, n.
You couldn’t believe the longest relationship I’d ever been in had only lasted for five months.
“Ever?” you asked, as if I might have overlooked a marriage.
I couldn’t say, “I never found anyone who interested me all that much,” because it was only our second date, and the jury was still hearing your case.
I sat there as you excavated your boyfriends, laid the bones out on the table for me to see. I shifted them around, tried to reassemble them, if only to see if they bore any resemblance to me.
”
”
David Levithan (The Lover's Dictionary)
“
if i am the longest relationship of my life isn’t it time to nurture intimacy and love with the person i lie in bed with each night - acceptance
”
”
Rupi Kaur (The Sun and Her Flowers)
“
In the end, the longest and most important relationship any of us will ever have is with ourselves. That’s why I believe self-awareness is so important. We all need to learn to become comfortable with ourselves as early as possible, and to grasp that we are responsible for who we are. And, as I said, the best way to get to know ourselves is through our relationships with others.
”
”
Gisele Bündchen (Lessons: My Path to a Meaningful Life)
“
codependents stay in toxic relationships for far longer than any other person would. Your intuition is actually really good—the problem is, you doubt it. You’re so preoccupied with trying to make sure you’re reasonable and seeing all perspectives that you fail to throw in the towel when people are blatantly mistreating you. Oftentimes you notice something seems “off” for the longest time, but you feel guilty and dismiss it because the person is nice to you, or because they aren’t rejecting you.
”
”
Jackson MacKenzie (Whole Again: Healing Your Heart and Rediscovering Your True Self After Toxic Relationships and Emotional Abuse)
“
WILL YOU DANCE WITH ME
As we stand here,
Hand in hand,
Under the neon lights
Of Truth and Love.
I'm asking you to
Dance with me.
To twirl,
Kick,
Drop,
Jump,
And fly
With me.
Skidding and
Sliding across
The dancefloor of life,
I want you to
Glide with me.
Through the
Saddest and
Happiest songs,
The fastest highs
To the longest and
Slowest lows,
I want you to
Flow through
Them all
With
Me.
”
”
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
“
Some people seem to see a conversation as a competition to see who can talk the longest and the most often.
”
”
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
“
My longest relationship was nine days, and even I know that you don’t keep shit from your bird. But
”
”
Lucy Parker (The Austen Playbook (London Celebrities, #4))
“
When a girl asks questions like, “How long was your longest relationship?” give short, vague answers.
”
”
Roosh V. (Bang: The Most Infamous Pickup Book In The World)
“
if i am the longest relationship of my life isn’t it time to nurture intimacy and love with the person i lie in bed with each night
”
”
Rupi Kaur (The Sun and Her Flowers)
“
He told me that from now on, everything I did and everything he did was of the utmost importance: any word spoken, the slightest gesture, would take on a meaning, and everything that happened between us would change us continually. 'For that reason,'he said,'I wish I were able to suspend time at this moment and keep things exactly at this point, because I feel this instant is a true beginning. We have a definite but unknown quantity of experience at our disposal. As soon as the hourglass is turned, the sand will begin to run out and once it starts, it cannot stop until it's all gone. That's why I wish I could hold it back at the start. We should make a minimum of gestures, pronounce a minimum of words, even see each other as seldom as possible, if that would prolong things. We don't know how much of everything we have ahead of us so we have to take the greatest precautions not to destroy the beauty of what we have. Everything exists in limited quantity-especially happiness. If a love is to come into being, it is all written down somewhere, and also its duration and content. If you could arrive at the complete intensity the first day, it would be ended the first day. And so if it's something you want so much that you'd like to have it prolonged in time, you must be extremely careful not to make the slightest excessive demand that might prevent it from developing to the greatest extent over the longest period...If the wings of the butterfly are to keep their sheen, you mustn't touch them. We mustn't abuse something which is to bring light into both our lives. Everything else in my life only weighs me down and shuts out the light. This thing wih you seems like a window that is opening up. I want it to remain open...
”
”
Françoise Gilot (Life With Picasso)
“
The longest relationship I had lasted a week, and only because it took him that long to realise that I sleep with paperbacks stuffed inside my pillows.”
“Why?”
“Paperbacks are soft and I like the idea of sleeping with entire worlds beneath my head.”
“I like that too.
”
”
Kimberly Karalius (Love Fortunes and Other Disasters (Grimbaud, #1))
“
The psychologist Daniel Wegner has this beautiful concept called transactive memory, which is the observation that we don’t just store information in our minds or in specific places. We also store memories and understanding in the minds of the people we love. You don’t need to remember your child’s emotional relationship to her teacher because you know your wife will; you don’t have to remember how to work the remote because you know your daughter will. That’s transactive memory. Little bits of ourselves reside in other people’s minds. Wegner has a heartbreaking riff about what one member of a couple will often say when the other one dies—that some part of him or her died along with the partner. That, Wegner says, is literally true. When your partner dies, everything that you have stored in that person’s brain is gone.
”
”
Malcolm Gladwell (The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War)
“
There are people who think that Malina and I are married. We never considered that we might be married, that such a possibility could exist, nor even the idea that other people might think that we were married. For the longest time it never crossed our minds that, like other people, we appear as man and wife wherever we go. This was a complete surprise for us, but we had no idea what to make of it. We laughed a lot.
”
”
Ingeborg Bachmann (Malina)
“
Angie has never had sticking power. She dropped out of high school; she walked out of the GED exam. Her longest relationship, prior to falling for Andy, was seven months. But then they’d met (no epic tale there—the game was on at a hometown bar), and something in her character was spontaneously altered.
”
”
Joe Hill (The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015 (The Best American Series))
“
To lover out there…
Most people are in an abuse, bad and toxic relationship, because they have a goal of breaking a record for being in a relationship the longest years. They want to brag about being in a relationship for 10 years or more, but they are they happy for those 10 years. They forget that years means nothing if the relationship is bad.
”
”
D.J. Kyos
“
The most trusted and loyal friendships in your life, will always be your oldest and longest friendships.
”
”
John Arthur
“
It bears repeating that the human penis is the longest and thickest of any primate’s—in both absolute and relative terms.
”
”
Christopher Ryan (Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships)
“
Is there … making up?”
“Yeah,” he confirmed.
“Don’t you have to kind of be together to make up?”
“Hattie, this is the longest non-relationship relationship in history. We’ve been together since the first time you shot me down for a date and I think you know that better than me.
”
”
Kristen Ashley (Dream Spinner (Dream Team, #3))
“
I know in another decade or two I’m going to have to get used to the idea of reading without paper in my hands, but I’m going to be making that trip kicking and screaming. Maybe that sounds stubborn, but my relationship with the printed word is the longest one I’ve ever had and I’m not ready to quit on it yet.
”
”
Gene Doucette (Immortal at the Edge of the World)
“
For eighty-four years (and counting), the Harvard Study has tracked the same individuals, asking thousands of questions and taking hundreds of measurements to find out what really keeps people healthy and happy. Through all the years of studying these lives, one crucial factor stands out for the consistency and power of its ties to physical health, mental health, and longevity. Contrary to what many people might think, it’s not career achievement, or exercise, or a healthy diet. Don’t get us wrong; these things matter (a lot). But one thing continuously demonstrates its broad and enduring importance: Good relationships. In fact, good relationships are significant enough that if we had to take all eighty-four years of the Harvard Study and boil it down to a single principle for living, one life investment that is supported by similar findings across a wide variety of other studies, it would be this: Good relationships keep us healthier and happier. Period.
”
”
Robert Waldinger (The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness)
“
Hamlet' dwarfs 'Hamilton' - it dwarfs pretty much everything - but there's a revealing similarity between them. Shakespeare's longest play leaves its audience in the dark about some basic and seemingly crucial facts. It's not as if the Bard forgot, in the course of all those words, to tell us whether Hamlet was crazy or only pretending: He wanted us to wonder. He forces us to work on a puzzle that has no definite answer. And this mysteriousness is one reason why we find the play irresistible.
'Hamilton' is riddled with question marks. The first act begins with a question, and so does the second. The entire relationship between Hamilton and Burr is based on a mutual and explicit lack of comprehension: 'I will never understand you,' says Hamilton, and Burr wonders, 'What it is like in his shoes?'
Again and again, Lin distinguishes characters by what they wish they knew. 'What'd I miss?' asks Jefferson in the song that introduces him. 'Would that be enough?' asks Eliza in the song that defines her. 'Why do you write like you're running out of time?' asks everybody in a song that marvels at Hamilton's drive, and all but declares that there's no way to explain it. 'Hamilton', like 'Hamlet', gives an audience the chance to watch a bunch of conspicuously intelligent and well-spoken characters fill the stage with 'words, words, words,' only to discover, again and again, the limits to what they can comprehend.
”
”
Lin-Manuel Miranda
“
I belong to myself.
Always.
Eternally.
Without question.
My own safe house.
My own sheltered harbor.
I am my own solid ground.
I am the lighthouse beacon.
I call the ships safely home from sea.
I am the North Star and the compass.
I am my own port in the wildest storm.
I am the spell caster and the spell breaker.
I am a witch of alchemy and transformation.
I am the pages in the grimoire of knowledge,
I am the source of all the magic ever known.
I am the kiss that wakes us all from slumber.
I am the white horse knight in shining armor.
I am my own happily ever after fairytale godmother.
I am my own rest stop on the longest journey of living.
The final destination on every treasure map I will ever need.
I am my own primary relationship, my own till death do us part.
I am my own center and saving grace, my own best-kept secret.
I am the lineage of wisdom itself, the home of my own belonging.
I am my own. And my own. And always my own.
”
”
Jeanette LeBlanc
“
In the modern era, teachers and scholarship have traditionally laid strenuous emphasis on the fact that Briseis, the woman taken from Achilles in Book One, was his géras, his war prize, the implication being that her loss for Achilles meant only loss of honor, an emphasis that may be a legacy of the homoerotic culture in which the classics and the Iliad were so strenuously taught—namely, the British public-school system: handsome and glamorous Achilles didn’t really like women, he was only upset because he’d lost his prize! Homer’s Achilles, however, above all else, is spectacularly adept at articulating his own feelings, and in the Embassy he says, “‘Are the sons of Atreus alone among mortal men the ones / who love their wives? Since any who is a good man, and careful, / loves her who is his own and cares for her, even as I now / loved this one from my heart, though it was my spear that won her’ ” (9.340ff.). The Iliad ’s depiction of both Achilles and Patroklos is nonchalantly heterosexual. At the conclusion of the Embassy, when Agamemnon’s ambassadors have departed, “Achilles slept in the inward corner of the strong-built shelter, / and a woman lay beside him, one he had taken from Lesbos, / Phorbas’ daughter, Diomede of the fair colouring. / In the other corner Patroklos went to bed; with him also / was a girl, Iphis the fair-girdled, whom brilliant Achilles / gave him, when he took sheer Skyros” (9.663ff.). The nature of the relationship between Achilles and Patroklos played an unlikely role in a lawsuit of the mid-fourth century B.C., brought by the orator Aeschines against one Timarchus, a prominent politician in Athens who had charged him with treason. Hoping to discredit Timarchus prior to the treason trial, Aeschines attacked Timarchus’ morality, charging him with pederasty. Since the same charge could have been brought against Aeschines, the orator takes pains to differentiate between his impulses and those of the plaintiff: “The distinction which I draw is this—to be in love with those who are beautiful and chaste is the experience of a kind-hearted and generous soul”; Aeschines, Contra Timarchus 137, in C. D. Adams, trans., The Speeches of Aeschines (Cambridge, MA, 1958), 111. For proof of such love, Aeschines cited the relationship between Achilles and Patroklos; his citation is of great interest for representing the longest extant quotation of Homer by an ancient author. 32
”
”
Caroline Alexander (The War That Killed Achilles: The True Story of Homer's Iliad and the Trojan War)
“
I mean, if I was getting married the guests would include a celibate incubus, an undead drag queen, a living statue, my dad, who’s had his eyes stolen by faeries, the woman who stole him back from faeries, a teenage oracle who’d insist on bringing my arsehole ex, a pack of werewolves, assuming it wasn’t too working class for them, possibly the entire Witch Court of London—and that was way more people than I was comfortable caring about. If I’d made the same list eighteen months ago, it would’ve been dad, Jenny and a bottle of cheap Scotch. Mind you, in either case I’d have to be marrying somebody and that would involve some fairly radical changes to my lifestyle. Because, let’s face it, my longest adult relationship has been with my hat.
”
”
Alexis Hall (Fire & Water (Kate Kane, Paranormal Investigator #3))
“
A FINAL DECISION How do you move further along on your own path toward a good life? First, by recognizing that the good life is not a destination. It is the path itself, and the people who are walking it with you. As you walk, second by second you can decide to whom and to what you give your attention. Week by week you can prioritize your relationships and choose to be with the people who matter. Year by year you can find purpose and meaning through the lives that you enrich and the relationships that you cultivate. By developing your curiosity and reaching out to others—family, loved ones, coworkers, friends, acquaintances, even strangers—with one thoughtful question at a time, one moment of devoted, authentic attention at a time, you strengthen the foundation of a good life.
”
”
Robert Waldinger (The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness)
“
Some people live longer than they ought to by any known measures. As Jo Marchant notes in her book Cure, Costa Ricans have only about one-fifth the personal wealth of Americans, and have poorer health care, but live longer. Moreover, people in one of the poorest regions of Costa Rica, the Nicoya Peninsula, live longest of all, even though they have much higher rates of obesity and hypertension. They also have longer telomeres. The theory is that they benefit from closer social bonds and family relationships. Curiously, it was found that if they live alone or don’t see a child at least once a week, the telomere length advantage vanishes. It is an extraordinary fact that having good and loving relationships physically alters your DNA. Conversely, a 2010 U.S. study found, not having such relationships doubles your risk of dying from any cause.
”
”
Bill Bryson (The Body: A Guide for Occupants)
“
Bharata, do not think that I have no sympathy for you in this your predicament. I understand it fully. But, then, my child, no man is allowed to do as he pleases. Man has no freedom. Fate tosses him about in all directions. The game which Fate plays is unpredictable. Nothing lasts in this world. What has been gathered is scattered about. What was once at the top soon reaches the lowest position. Meetings only end in separations and, as for life, it only ends in death. Ripe fruits have but one fear, that of falling down. And even so, man has no fear other than death. Think of a house built sturdily with strong pillars. Even that, in course of time, becomes weak and ancient. Men too become old, lose their power of thinking and death claims them. The night which passes will never come back and the waters of the Yamuna which flow fast, when in flood, towards the sea, will never return. In this world, Bharata, just as the waters on the surface of the earth get less and less, dried constantly by the rays of the sun, man’s life also gets lessened day by day. Your life and mine are fast ebbing away. Think on the Lord, my child. Do not spend your time in the contemplation of another’s life. Death walks with us: and he accompanies us on the longest journey we undertake. The skin gets wrinkled. Hair grows white. Old age makes man weak and helpless. Man delights at the sight of the sun rising and again, the setting sun is pleasing to the eye. But man forgets that every sunrise and every sunset has lessened one’s life on earth by another day. The seasons come and go and each season has a charm of its own. But they come and when they go, they take with them large slices of our lives every time.
On the large expanse of the sea two pieces of wood come together. They float together for a while and then they are parted. Even so it is with man and his relationship with life, child, kinsmen, wealth and other possessions. Meetings end only in separation. It is the law of nature. No one is capable of altering the course of Fate. Weeping for one who is dead will not bring him back to life.
”
”
Kamala Subramaniam (Ramayana)
“
It is the impact that the poem had on my own thinking process and set the tone for the first and longest story in this book, ‘Autumn Leaves.’ Having seen around me the reality of aging and loneliness predominant, and the younger generation moving still further away and the older ones slowly learning to cope with being by themselves. This story traces the disintegration of families from what was once a joint one with a ruling patriarch and the other members strewn around not far away, to single units ultimately spread out in far and distant lands; the slow but perceptible shifting away in distance and relationships and acceptance of which as a reality was unalterable. The advancement in knowledge and the growth in opportunities away from home, contributing to a more independent individual learning to live life on his own terms, though desirable, has led to the splintering of families and in a sense an inevitable reality of being left alone as one aged.
”
”
Gs. Subbu (Autumn Leaves : Seasons of Life)
“
have learned that the quality of the relationships we have with other people makes a tremendous difference to our physical as well as emotional health. Loneliness, I discovered in my research, can kill you faster than cigarettes. And by the same token, intimate relationships that are authentic and life-affirming can have enormous and even miraculous healing powers. In
”
”
John Robbins (Healthy at 100: The Scientifically Proven Secrets of the World's Healthiest and Longest-Lived Peoples)
“
Efferent impulses may be conducted along one of two major pathways of motor neurons as they pass from the brain through the cord and out to the muscles, and together these longitudinal pathways provide for the convergence of the influences from all levels of the central nervous system upon the motor units. The fastest of these descending routes is the direct corticospinal pathway. As the name suggests, the cell bodies of this path are in the cortex, and they send their long axons directly through the brain and down the spinal cord without any interruptions. These axons do not form any synapses until they reach their corresponding motor neurons in the cord, and thus they form direct connections between specific cells in the motor cortex and specific motor neurons at each level of the cord, making one-to-one relationships between cortical cells and peripheral motor units. This pathway bypasses most of the intermediate circuitry of the lower brain and the spinal cord. This gives it the advantage of speedy transmission. The axons which are bundled together within it maintain a constant spatial relationship throughout their length, faithfully reflecting the spatial relationships of the cell bodies in the cortex. The longest axons, reaching all the way to the end of the cord, lie the closest to the center of the cord, and the progressively shorter axons which synapse to motor neurons in progressively higher segments, are carefully laid down in layers progressively far from the center of the cord, so that a “map” of skeletal muscle relationships is projected onto the motor cortex. This gives a high degree of specificity to this direct corticospinal tract. This direct pathway is the mediator of fine, intricate movements, which require close conscious attention and constantly refined adjustment. When it is severed, actions become clumsier, because the sharp edge of delicate conscious control is missing.
”
”
Deane Juhan (Job's Body: A Handbook for Bodywork)
“
The longest flirting relationship is between the sea and the shore, they forever flirt but they never kiss.
AEB (IHFHOH)
”
”
AEB(IHFHOH)
“
The relationship between the soul and the body is of one life and that is, perhaps , the longest relationship one can have . Colour it with as much love as possible
”
”
Neelam Saxena Chandra
“
You will always be in the longest committed relationship with yourself. No way around it, so make yourself happy.
”
”
Joe Mehl
“
A good place to focus is on accounts that have been with you for the longest and shortest periods of time. Those with a long association can tell you why they have been clients for so long, and how they view your relationship.
”
”
Chris Dyer (The Power of Company Culture: How any business can build a culture that improves productivity, performance and profits)
“
The longest relationship in my life has been with ‘Change’.
”
”
Steven Magee
“
When commuters were told to strike up a conversation, most had a positive experience and rated their commute as better than usual, and those who typically worked on the train reported that the trip was no less productive when they talked to a stranger. There is a lot of research like this suggesting that human beings are bad at affective forecasting. Not just in short-term situations like the train study, but in the long term, too. We seem particularly bad at forecasting the benefits of relationships. A big part of this is the obvious fact that relationships can be messy and unpredictable. This messiness is some of what prompts many of us to prefer being alone. It’s not just that we are seeking solitude; it’s that we want to avoid the potential mess of connecting with others. But we overestimate that mess and underestimate the beneficial effects of human connection. This is a feature of our decision making in general: we pay a lot of attention to potential costs and downplay or dismiss potential benefits.
”
”
Robert Waldinger (The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness)
“
Among the many predictors of health and happiness, from good diet to exercise to level of income, a life of good relationships stands out for its power and consistency.
”
”
Robert Waldinger (The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness)
“
Contrary to what many people might think, it’s not career achievement, or exercise, or a healthy diet. Don’t get us wrong; these things matter (a lot). But one thing continuously demonstrates its broad and enduring importance: Good relationships.
”
”
Robert Waldinger (The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Study on Happiness)
“
The same is true for social fitness. It’s not easy to take care of our relationships today, and in fact, we tend to think that once we establish friendships and intimate relationships, they will take care of themselves. But like muscles, neglected relationships atrophy. Our social life is a living system. And it needs exercise.
”
”
Robert Waldinger (The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness)
“
i am the longest relationship
of my life
”
”
Rupi Kaur (The sun and her flowers)
“
The value of relationships is ephemeral and hard to quantify, but money can be counted.
”
”
Robert Waldinger (The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness)
“
Courses in social and emotional learning (SEL) focus on helping students learn self-awareness, identify and manage emotions, and hone their relationship skills. These programs are being tested in schools all over the world.
”
”
Robert Waldinger (The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness)
“
I’d like you to think of three groups of people. The first group lives a relatively stress-free life. The second group experiences stress and views it positively. The final group experiences stress and views it negatively. Which group do you think lives the longest? It’s the second group. The problem isn’t stress. It’s you.
”
”
Eric Partaker (The 3 Alarms: A Simple System to Transform Your Health, Wealth, and Relationships Forever)
“
The longest relationship you will ever have is the one you have with yourself. You want to make sure it is one full of love, respect, and compassion.
”
”
Allison Raskin (Overthinking About You: Navigating Romantic Relationships When You Have Anxiety, OCD, and/or Depression)
“
The logic of Hebrew (and other languages) realizes that an action should result from what is in our minds. If you “remember” someone, you will act on their behalf. If you “hear” someone, you will obey their words. If you “know” someone, you will have a close relationship with them. Hebrew realizes that the longest twelve inches that your faith has to move is from your head to your heart. And once your faith makes that move, it naturally comes out through your hands and feet.
”
”
Lois Tverberg (Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewish Words of Jesus Can Change Your Life)
“
What did he do?”
I whipped around, startled. I had been so immersed in my own thoughts that I hadn’t even noticed Philantha standing into the doorway to one of the sitting rooms.
“Pardon?”
“Well, in my experience, it’s usually the man who bumbles about causing most of the problems in relationships of romance,” she said. “So, naturally, I assumed that your young man has done or said or thought something that caused you to come bursting in like a hurricane. Am I correct?”
I shook my head so violently the braid coiled around my head threatened to come loose. “We’re not in a…relationship of romance. He’s just my friend.”
Philantha made a sound surprisingly like a snicker. “Truly?” she asked. “I suppose that’s why he’s been with you most evenings.”
“Like I said, we’re friends. And we haven’t seen each other in a long time.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I may not care about it--or at least I didn’t, until recently--but I do hear some of the court gossip when I visit the college. The noble students, they bring it with them, you know. And one of the stories is how the Earl of Rithia and his wife are scrambling to find eligible matches for their son.”
I felt suddenly dizzy for no reason, and a hot flush--disturbingly like the jealous feeling I had experienced at the inn--rushed through me. “Matches?” I repeated.
“Girls, young women, marriageable prospects. Strange, how suddenly they started. Right after the princess came back, it’s been noted. As if they had had hope for another match before, and it was ruined.”
“Me?” I asked. “People think Kiernan’s parents wanted him to marry me? That’s…ridiculous. Princesses don’t marry earls--a duke, maybe, but not an earl, not unless he’s foreign and brings some grand alliance. And besides, we’re just--”
“Friends,” Philantha finished. “I know. That’s what you keep saying.” She eyed me, before saying, “They haven’t had much luck, though, from the gossip. He’s polite to everyone they trot out, but nothing more. But that’s neither here nor there, since you don’t love him.”
I glared at her, my face and chest still filled with that rush of heat.
“In fact, he’s made you angry, hasn’t he?”
“He did. Well, I said…Yes, we fought. He says that Na--the princess--wants to see me. And I told him that he couldn’t bring her to me, that I didn’t want to see her. He said that if she asked, he would have to. But he’s wormed his way out of stickier situations than that. He could find a way to avoid it, if he wanted to.”
“Then perhaps he doesn’t want to,” Philantha answered before gliding away up the stairs and out of sight.
I had plenty of time to mull over Philantha’s words, because I didn’t see Kiernan for the next three days. It was the longest we had been parted since I returned to the city, and even through my anger at him it drove me to distraction. I mangled my spells even worse than usual, spilled ink, and tripped so frequently that Philantha threatened to call Kiernan to the house herself and turn him into a sparrow if we didn’t make up. Her eyes glinted dangerously when she said it, and only that was enough to force away a bit of my muddleheadedness.
”
”
Eilis O'Neal (The False Princess)
“
You have no friends, and your longest sexual relationship lasted less than five months. Your psychological evaluation suggests a love/hate relationship with feminine companions—quick to fall in love and even quicker to dislike them if they do or say anything that triggers a negative response.” Shelli paused its typing, then nodded... If it makes this transition easier, you may call me your friend.
”
”
Doug Brode (SHELLI: The Android Detective)
“
You have no friends, and your longest sexual relationship lasted less than five months. Your psychological evaluation suggests
a love/hate relationship with feminine companions—quick to fall in love and even quicker to dislike them if they do or say anything that triggers a negative response... If it makes this transition easier, you may call me your friend.
”
”
Doug Brode (SHELLI: The Android Detective)
“
And most of all I’m furious at how devoted I am to it, and how much I don’t want to leave it. Because the more my eyes begin to open about harmful relationships, the more I see them everywhere, and the clearer it becomes that the longest running toxic love of my life has actually been my career.
”
”
Rebecca Humphries (Why Did You Stay?: A memoir about self-worth)
“
How? My longest relationship was two years and that was over when I was twenty-four.' // 'I'm talking about you and me,' she said
”
”
Dolly Alderton (Everything I Know About Love)
“
Over time, love’s fuel will burn the cleanest and longest. Nothing stays the same—you either progress or regress. When you use this continuous pressure, you successfully move to the next plateau, whether in life, sports, business, or relationships. No one in our lives should demand a higher standard than the one we impose on ourselves.
”
”
Tom Ryan (Chosen Suffering: Becoming Elite In Life And Leadership)
“
Our siblingships are usually the longest-lasting relationships in our lives. So it is fitting that we share the status of siblings with God's people, because our siblingship will never end in death.
”
”
Aimee Byrd (Why Can't We Be Friends?: Avoidance Is Not Purity)
“
In one of the longest studies on human development ever done, Harvard researchers confirm the need for community by showing that deep, intimate, personal relationships are the key to a happy life.2 As parts of one body each of us holds the elements needed for true transformation to take place but rarely do we pool together our relational resources. We now live in a time where relational resources are diminishing at a most alarming rate. There is no better time than the present to increase our relational capacity.
”
”
Chris M. Coursey (Transforming Fellowship: 19 Brain Skills That Build Joyful Community)
“
It was when I said,
“There is no such thing as the truth,”
That the grapes seemed fatter.
The fox ran out of his hole.
You . . . You said
“There are many truths,
But they are not parts of a truth.”
Then the tree, at night, began to change,
Smoking through green and smoking blue.
We were two figures in a wood.
We said we stood alone.
It was when I said,
“Words are not forms of a single word.
In the sum of the parts, there are only the parts.
The world must be measured by eye”;
It was when you said,
“The idols have seen lots of poverty,
Snakes and gold and lice,
But not the truth”;
It was at that time, that the silence was largest
And longest, the night was roundest,
The fragrance of the autumn warmest,
Closest and strongest.
”
”
Wallace Stevens (The Collected Poems)
“
He was indeed lacking in the bond of human sympathy for every chance person who was not brought into a personal relationship
”
”
Malcolm Gladwell (The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War)
“
The longest relationship I have had is the one with my eating disorder. Every time I think I can walk away from it, something brings me back. It’s the one thing that I’m good at. The one thing that connects me to my past. I feel ashamed. It is embarrassing constantly thinking about food and my body.
”
”
Carolyn Rossiter (Diet Pills and Broken Dreams: Stories I could Not Tell)
“
Ari laughed. “Hardly. My longest relationship is with my cat, and it’s not even a healthy one. I’m so codependent for that jerk.
”
”
Amy Spalding (For Her Consideration (Out in Hollywood, #1))
“
You’re too hard on yourself,” she said. “You can do long-term love. You’ve done it better than anyone I know.” “How? My longest relationship was two years and that was over when I was twenty-four.” “I’m talking about you and me,” she said.
”
”
Dolly Alderton (Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir)
“
A few adjustments to our most treasured relationships can have real effects on how we feel, and on how we feel about our lives. We might be sitting on a goldmine of vitality that we are not paying attention to—because this source of vitality is eclipsed by the shiny allure of smartphones and TV or pushed to the side by work demands.
”
”
Robert Waldinger (The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness)
“
Around the middle of our lives, it’s common to ask questions like: Am I doing well compared to others? Am I in a rut? Am I a good partner and parent? Do I have good relationships with my children? How many years do I have left? Does the life I’m leading have meaning beyond myself? What people and purposes do I really care about (and how can I invest in them)? What else do I want to do?
”
”
Robert Waldinger (The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness)
“
This is a novel about sisters...typically sisters are the longest relationship we’ll have in our lifetimes. A sister is someone who should stand by you and support you and love you no matter what, and yet it’s also your sister who knows exactly where to drive the knife and hurt you the most.
”
”
Lisa See
“
This is what we call the “You Always / You Never” trap. Our experience with our family members starts so early in life that our expectations about relationships become deeply imprinted, and anything that happens, no matter how subtle, often gets pressed into that old imprint. We have to remember that as we grow and change throughout our lives, so do our family members; by not giving them the benefit of the doubt, we may not see how they have changed.
”
”
Robert Waldinger (The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness)
“
The primary challenge of happiness research comes in the application of insight to actual lives, each of which is highly individual and does not fit neatly into any group template. The findings and ideas we’ve presented in this book are based on research, but science can’t know the turmoil or contradictions you feel in your heart. It can’t quantify the stir that you experience when a certain friend calls. It can’t know what keeps you up at night, or what you regret, or how you express your love. Science can’t say whether you’re calling your kids too much or too little, or whether you should reconnect with a particular family member. It can’t say if it would be better for you to have a heart-to-heart over a cup of coffee or play a game of basketball or go for a walk with a friend. Those answers can only come through reflection, and figuring out what works for you. For anything in this book to be useful, you will need to tune in to your unique life experience and make its lessons your own. But here’s what science can tell you: Good relationships keep us happier, healthier, and help us live longer. This is true across the lifespan, and across cultures and contexts, which means it is almost certainly true for you, and for nearly every human being who has ever lived.
”
”
Robert Waldinger (The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness)
“
When two people marry, is it the ceremony, the event, or the bond that changes their lives? As we develop and change over time, it is our relationships that most often reflect back to us who we really are, and how far we’ve come on our life path.
”
”
Robert Waldinger (The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness)
“
So we gathered together everything we knew about them at age 50 and found that it wasn’t their middle-aged cholesterol levels that predicted how they were going to grow old; it was how satisfied they were in their relationships. The people who were the most satisfied in their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest (mentally and physically) at age 80. As
”
”
Robert Waldinger (The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness)
“
Now, I remember that given female life expectancy is 83 for women and 79 for men, even if it takes until age 50 to meet him (or her, if I switch sides, never say never), I will still have 29 l-o-n-g years with that guy (if we are the same age and he dies right on schedule). 29 years! I mean. The longest relationship I’ve ever managed thus far was three years, and it was hard to even keep that alit, so that 29-year hypothetical relationship is going to be a humdinger of a challenge. I can wait. Is fine.
”
”
Catherine Gray (The Unexpected Joy of Being Single)
“
The twanging of life
Thirteenth part : The essence of the beauty is unity in variety
We are only able to contempt and treat people in a bad way, when we forget that the other person belongs to us and to the society as well as we too, when we only forget that in the form of doing the action, there is a strong relationship between the subject and the object so avarice, violence, egoism, sadness and looking at others as pawns of market's chess to get money arise from losing their unity, from forgetting their spirit of cooperation and collaboration and then starting perceiving others in terms of their individual differences.
A humanitarian action that isn't intended to be done can make a huge storm of humanity, a single word can give people the feeling of unity, just like every time when a person passes by you and you say for him "السلام عليكم" both of you start to feel like there is a candle within both of you turning into clemency, the more love, the more mercy and the more salaam you show on your face the more light is reflected form that candle, you should start thinking that, greeting the people is proclamations of peace, every time you say "السلام عليكم" to a stranger your heart admits over and over again that we are all united, what I am trying to say is, in your heart's deepest place where the onus of your ego are fallen to pieces and the enigma of your soul is infiltrated, you find the awareness isn't different in any way from what all others may find, the mutuality of Sudanese people is appeared as the sun in the morning but only when our own humanness is surpassed our own dishumanness by accepting that we are all one in the fact that we are all made of diversified differences.
We are all equal in the fact that our own society is made by different tribes, we are all the same in the fact that we will never have the same colour, life, thinking, dreams, feelings and luxury, we are united by the reality that Sudan is able to combine all colours, all cultures, all tribes and all of us in the fact that every one believes his tribe and culture are distinguished and individual, we are compatible in the reality that we are all recaptured to this country by the same history, the same conditions of living and the longest river in the world that all of them together give us a light to shine the darkness that covers the sky to allow for us to walk as one hand in the right direction, we don't share the colours but we share the blood, we aren't equal in existence of happiness but we drink River Nile's water that keeps us alive, we are different in existence of tribes but we share the same air that is blended by our breath, so I am you as much as I am me and you are me as much as I am you.
Finally swingeing internal ructions and overmuch narcissism of a society devastate the tissue of its unity, not the differences of that society, Lord Robin said that unity begins at home within family is the strength to survive and win the fight of life.
”
”
Omer Mohamed
“
My longest relationship in life was with Insanity.
”
”
Steven Magee