Natalie

“You won’t understand what I mean now, but someday you will: the only trick of friendship, I think, is to find people who are better than you are—not smarter, not cooler, but kinder, and more generous, and more forgiving—and then to appreciate them for what they can teach you, and to try to listen to them when they tell you something about yourself, no matter how bad—or good—it might be, and to trust them, which is the hardest thing of all. But the best, as well.”
― Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life

“Cary felt like he’d spent his whole life trying to close his arms around her and never quite succeeding…. Could he stop trying to have Shiloh- and just have her? Be with her. Plan around her. Know she was his, even from ten thousand miles away. Cary wanted to feel settled. He wanted to feel locked down. Shiloh was a light in the distance. She was an ache he’d been feeling since he was thirteen. An itch. She was a finger hooked into every torn seam, tugging- and Cary was made of torn seams. Just a poorly stitched human being. He’d only known how to want Shiloh, never how to have her. Could he just- Could he finally- relax?”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“Well, you're lucky. Because love is something you can learn. Love is something you can practice. It's something you can choose to get good at. And here's how you do it. Appreciate your person.
That's it.
Well—first be sure to choose a good person. But we're all good people here.
Choose a good, imperfect person who leaves the cap off the toothpaste, and puts the toilet paper roll on upside down, and loads the dishwasher like a ferret on steroids—and then appreciate the hell out of that person. Train yourself to see their best, most delightful, most charming qualities. Focus on everything they're getting right. Be grateful—all the time—and laugh the rest off.
And that goes for kids, too, by the way—and pets, and waiters, and even our own selves. There it is. The whole trick to life. Be aggressively, loudly, unapologetically grateful.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“Even before you touched me, I belonged to you; all you had to do was look at me.”
― Louise Glück