An anniversary is one of the most important milestones you will have in your life. It is simultaneously a celebration of your life, your lover’s life, and the life you have made together. Marking another year alongside the love of your life can be so exciting that it renders you speechless. You might even find yourself unable to express how you feel. Fortunately, artists, poets and philosophers have done the legwork for you. Here are eight romantic quotes for anniversaries from the people who say it best.
Nobel Prize Winner Pablo Neruda and The Simplicity of Love
Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet and Nobel Prize for Literature recipient who is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest poets of the 1900s. One of the more romantic of his verses is the following excerpt from the seventeenth sonnet of his collection 100 Love Sonnets:
“I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close.”
The Honorable William O. Douglas on Lasting Marriage
Douglas served as a Supreme Court Justice, but on the topic of love he sounds more like a poet than a judge:
“Marriage is a coming together for better or for worse, hopefully enduring, and intimate to the degree of being sacred.”
Acclaimed Poet Maya Angelou Expresses Love’s Uniqueness
Finding the right person means finding your soul mate. That unique relationship is a beautiful thing. Poet Maya Angelou celebrates the concept of a soul mate with this passage:
“In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine.”
Roy Croft Intimately Captures Why We Love
Love is often mysterious, but poet Croft expresses why we love the people we do with a simple beauty. Though little is known about this poet, it’s clear from his writings that he was a romantic:
“I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but also for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out.”
Sir Hugh Walpole Depicts the Divine Accident of Finding Love
Turn-of-the-century novelist Sir Hugh Walpole was a British author whose work was extremely popular during the 1920s and 1930s. If Walpole is correct and love is an accident, it is surely the most beautiful accident of all:
“The most wonderful of all things in life, I believe, is the discovery of another human being with whom one’s relationship has a growing depth, beauty, and joy as the years increase. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is a most marvelous thing; it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of divine accident, and the most wonderful of all things in life.”
Philosopher Lao Tzu Demonstrates One of Love’s Gifts
Lao Tzu was an ancient Chinese philosopher who lived between the sixth and fourth centuries BC. He is the founder of Taoism, and his writings touched on various facets of human existence. The importance of love is something that transcends time and culture, and Lao Tzu demonstrates that with this insight:
“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
The Weirdness of Love According to Robert Fulghum
No two people are exactly alike, and our wondrous differences can often seem quite weird to others. Our being weird is part of what makes us unique, and true love doesn’t try to fix the weirdness, but embraces it. Robert Fulghum iterates the importance of embracing weirdness in this quote:
“We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness — and call it love — true love.”
Great American Author F. Scott Fitzgerald on Enduring Love
F. Scott Fitzgerald was an author most well known for his novel The Great Gatsby, which was recently adapted into a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. For Fitzgerald, love is the most important element in our world, and it gives us the strength to overcome any obstacle.
“I fell in love with her courage, her sincerity, and her flaming self respect. And it’s these things I’d believe in, even if the whole world indulged in wild suspicions that she wasn’t all she should be. I love her and it is the beginning of everything.”
Love is confusing and intoxicating and wonderful. Share these quotes with your special someone and let them know how you feel. If you’re not celebrating an anniversary of your own, save them and read through them for inspiration, or just to warm your heart. At times love can be a mystery, but there’s plenty of insight out there if you know where to look.
