#rue

At first I did not love you, Jude; that I own. When I first knew you I merely wanted you to love me. I did not exactly flirt with you; but that inborn craving which undermines some women's morals almost more than unbridled passion--the craving to attract and captivate, regardless of the injury it may do the man--was in me; and when I found I had caught you, I was frightened. And then--I don't know how it was-- I couldn't bear to let you go--possibly to Arabella again--and so I got to love you, Jude. But you see, however fondly it ended, it began in the selfish and cruel wish to make your heart ache for me without letting mine ache for you. ↗

— Thomas Hardy

#cruel #deception #flirting #heartbreaker #heartbroken

Sophie said to me once that she was glad she had been scarred. She said that whoever loved her now would love her true self, and not her pretty face. This is your true self, Tessa. This power is who you are. Whoever loves you now--and you must also love yourself--will love the truth of you. ↗

— Cassandra Clare

#self #true-self #love

But the hearts of small children are delicate organs. A cruel beginning in this world can twist them into curious shapes. The heart of a hurt child can shrink so that forever afterward it is hard and pitted as the seed of a peach. Or again, the heart of such a child may fester and swell until it is a misery to carry within the body, easily chafed and hurt by the most ordinary things. ↗

— Carson McCullers

#cruelty #heart #love #neglect #love

It’s not how much you paid, but how much it would cost to replace it that’s important. What is the price of love? ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#true #love

His love for Frodo rose above all other thoughts, and forgetting his peril he cried aloud: 'I'm coming Mr. Frodo! ↗

— J.R.R. Tolkien

#lord-of-the-rings #middle-earth #sam-gamgee #tolkien #true-love

...true love is an irrevocable act - you can only give your heart away once - after that, you give as much as you have left ... ↗

— John Geddes

#irrevocable #leftovers #love #true-love #wise-words

Rahul had wondered how someone could love their beloved so much that their dedication to them became one of the wonders of the world. ↗

— Faraaz Kazi

#taj-mahal #true-love #love

Alcide: "It's on my right butt cheek. It's shaped like a rabbit." Sookie: "I love bunnies! ↗

— Charlaine Harris

#bunnies #sookie-stackhouse #the-southern-vampire-mysteries #true-blood #love

Did you know that there are over three hundred words for love in canine? ↗

— Gabrielle Zevin

#love #so-true #sweet #love

In my head this cruel unspeakable truth: that we battled and we cursed and we spilled each other’s blood, we relished our taste of hell and strangled heaven’s love. ↗

— Aberjhani

#fear #heaven #human-nature #love #spirituality