If we are a metaphor of the universe, the human couple is the metaphor par excellence, the point of intersection of all forces and the seed of all forms. The couple is time recaptured, the return to the time before time.
—Octavio Paz (1914–98) Mexican Poet, Diplomat
It takes two men to make a brother.
—Israel Zangwill (1864–1926) English Playwright, Novelist, Zionist Activist
I felt it shelter to speak to you.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
The intense happiness of our union is derived in a high degree from the perfect freedom with which we each follow and declare our own impressions.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
The bonds that unite another person to our self exist only in our mind.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky.
—Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian Poet
To know when to go away and when to come closer is the key to any lasting relationship.
—Domenico Cieri (b.1954) Mexican Author, Aphorist
When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
You can be right or you can have empathy. You can’t do both.
—Seth Godin (b.1960) American Entrepreneur
I think that when you invite people to your home, you invite them to yourself.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Each relationship nurtures a strength or weakness within you.
—Mike Murdock
You must go to bed with friends or whores, where money makes up the difference in beauty or desire.
—W. H. Auden (1907–73) British-born American Poet, Dramatist
Good company upon the road is the shortest cut.
—Unknown
Present your family and friends with their eulogies now – they won’t be able to hear how much you love them and appreciate them from inside the coffin.
—Anonymous
Relationships based on obligation lack dignity.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Soul-mates are people who bring out the best in you. They are not perfect but are always perfect for you.
—Unknown
There is no substitute for the comfort supplied by the utterly taken-for-granted relationship.
—Iris Murdoch (1919–99) British Novelist, Playwright, Philosopher
One can find women who have never had one love affair, but it is rare indeed to find any who have had only one.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
The only way of knowing a person is to love them without hope.
—Walter Benjamin
The easiest kind of relationship is with ten thousand people, the hardest is with one.
—Joan Baez (b.1941) American Singer, Songwriter, Musician
Surely there must be some way to find a husband or, for that matter, merely an escort, without sacrificing one’s privacy, self-respect, and interior decorating scheme. For example, men could be imported from the developing countries, many parts of which are suffering from a man excess, at least in relation to local food supply.
—Barbara Ehrenreich (1941–2022) American Social Critic, Essayist
No road is long with good company.
—Turkish Proverb
There is no difference between robbing a Jew or robbing a Gentile; if any, to rob a Gentile is a greater sin than to rob a Jew.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
In the coldest February, as in every other month in every other year, the best thing to hold on to in this world is each other.
—Linda Ellerbee (b.1944) American Journalist
The most important ingredient we put into any relationship is not what we say or what we do, but what we are. And if our words and our actions come from superficial human relations techniques (the Personality Ethic) rather than from our own inner core (the Character Ethic), others will sense that duplicity. We simply won’t be able to create and sustain the foundation necessary for effective interdependence.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
You will always move toward anyone who increases you and away from anyone who makes you less.
—Mike Murdock
Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.
—Frederick Buechner (1926–2022) American Writer, Theologian