The course of true love never did run smooth.—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

Love is everything it’s cracked up to be. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for.—Erica Jong (b. 1942)

Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.—Peter Ustinov (1921–2004)

You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly.—Sam Keen (b. 1931)

Love at first sight is easy to understand; it’s when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle.—Amy Bloom (b. 1953)

All the best things in life come packaged [with] a ribbon of risk. You untie the gift, you assume the risk, and equally, the joy. Parenthood is like that. Marriage is like that. Friendship is like that. In order to experience life in the full sense, you expose yourself to [continual] vulnerability.—Kristin Armstrong (b. 1973)

Love is like a precious plant. You can’t just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it’s going to get on by itself. You’ve got to keep watering it. You’ve got to really look after it and nurture it.—John Lennon (1940–1980)

We mistakenly assume that if our partners love us they will react and behave in certain ways—the [same] ways we react and behave when we love someone.—John Gray (b. 1951)

It’s not love that blinds, but self-love.—Voltaire (1694–1778)

Relationships of all kinds are like sand held in your hand. Held loosely, with an open hand, the sand remains where it is. The minute you close your hand and squeeze tightly to hold on, the sand trickles through your fingers. You may hold onto some of it, but most will be spilled. A relationship is like that. Held loosely, with respect and freedom for the other person, it is likely to remain intact. But hold too tightly, too possessively, and the relationship slips away and is lost.—Kaleel Jamison (1931–1985)

You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves.—Saint Francis de Sales (1567–1622) 

Love is like a Rubik’s Cube: There are countless numbers of wrong twists and turns, but when you get it right, it looks perfect no matter what way you look at it.—Brian Cramer