Like all commercial holidays that society forces us to celebrate, Valentine's Day can bring a mixed bag of feelings. That's partly because it perpetuates this obsession with a perfect, singular, cookie-cutter type of love (hello heteronormativity) and partly because we're bombarded with images of over-the-top grand romantic gestures that'll make our own love lives pale in comparison.
In essence, it can be a real drag — unless you rewrite the script. Instead of buying into what advertising agencies tell us we need to be happy on Feb. 14 (see: expensive chocolates, a rooftop dinner reservation, and actor Jason Momoa surprising you with flowers), carve out your own meaning of the holiday instead. Reflect on the love you do have in your life, whether that's romantic, platonic, familial, or even just some good old-fashioned self-love.
Then, think of ways to honor, celebrate and appreciate that love without the grand gestures and commercialized symbols of affection. A kind word, a thoughtful gesture, or even just being intentional with your time can speak volumes to those you love. And what better way to express those feelings than through the power of words?
Quotes — be they poetic, profound, or punny — remind us that no matter our relationship status, we're not alone in the human experience of giving, receiving, falling in and falling out of love. So this Valentine's Day, skip the clichés and opt for one (or many) of these 75 Cupid-approved Valentine's Day quotes instead. Need more? Check out our Valentine's Day jokes and Valentine's Day Instagram captions.
Quotes for Longtime Lovers
- "The giving of love is an education in itself." — Eleanor Roosevelt
- "There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart." — Jane Austen
- "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." — Nat King Cole
- "Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning." — Paulo Coelho
- "Love is a friendship set to music." — Joseph Campbell
- "If I know what love is, it is because of you." — Hermann Hesse
- "And at every table, I'll save you a seat." — Taylor Swift
- "The only thing we never get enough of is love; and the only thing we never give enough of is love." — Henry Miller
- "I know of only one duty and that is to love." — Albert Camus
- "Loved you yesterday, love you still, always have, always will." — Elaine Davis
- "I've tried so many times to think of a new way to say it, and it's still I love you." — Zelda Fitzgerald
- "Never above you. Never below you. Always beside you." — Walter Winchell
- "If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love." — Maya Angelou
- "There's no substitute for a great love who says, 'No matter what's wrong with you, you're welcome at this table.'" — Tom Hanks
- "Love is an endless act of forgiveness." — Beyoncé
- "To be fully seen by somebody, then, and be loved anyhow — this is a human offering that can border on miraculous." — Elizabeth Gilbert
- "A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person." — Mignon McLaughlin
- "If you remember me, then I don't care if everyone else forgets." — Haruki Murakami
- "Love is friendship that has caught on fire." — Ann Landers
- "The best thing to hold onto in life is each other." — Audrey Hepburn
- "Loving is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction." — Antoine de Saint Exupéry
- "Being married is like having somebody permanently in your corner. It feels limitless, not limited." — Gloria Steinem
- "Where there is love there is life." — Mahatma Gandhi
Quotes for Hopeless Romantics
- "We were together. I forget the rest." — Walt Whitman
- "Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life." — Leo Buscaglia
- "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." — Emily Bronte
- "Love isn't something you find. Love is something that finds you." — Loretta Young
- "The love we give away is the only love we keep." — Elbert Hubbard
- "In all the world, there is no love for you like mine." — Maya Angelou
- "Come live in my heart and pay no rent." — Samuel Lover
- "At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet." — Plato
- "For all of the things my hands have held, the best by far is you." — Anonymous
- "Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place." — Zora Neale Hurston
- "I swear I couldn't love you more than I do right now, and yet, I know I will tomorrow." — Leo Christopher
- "There is my heart, and then there is you, and I'm not sure there is a difference." — A. R. Asher
- "I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you." — Paulo Coelho
- "Each time you love, love as deeply as if it were forever." — Audre Lorde
- "You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back." — Barbara De Angelis
- "I love her, and that's the beginning and end of everything." — F. Scott Fitzgerald
- "To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides." — David Viscott
- "And if the stars should ever die, we'll make our own light, you and I." — John Mark Green
- "Love doesn't make the world go 'round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile." — Franklin P. Jones
- "I hope you don't mind that I put down in words how wonderful life is while you're in the world." — Elton John
- "Love is the whole thing. We are only the pieces." — Rumi
Quotes for Valentine's Day Cynics
- "My love life is like a piece of Swiss cheese. Most of it's missing, and what's there stinks." — Joan Rivers?
- "You can't buy love, but you can pay heavily for it." — Henny Youngman?
- "You can never be wise and be in love at the same time." ? Bob Dylan
- "There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness." — Friedrich Nietzsche
- "Love thy neighbor — and if he happens to be tall, debonair and devastating, it will be that much easier." — Mae West
- "Love can change a person the way a parent can change a baby — awkwardly, and often with a great deal of mess." — Daniel Handler
- "Without Valentine's Day, February would be...well, January." — Jim Gaffigan
- "If love is the answer, could you please rephrase the question?" — Lily Tomlin
- "Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell." — Joan Crawford
Quotes for Lost Love
- "When all is said and done, grief is the price we pay for love." — E.A. Bucchianeri
- "Grief only exists where love lived first." — Franchesca Cox
- We never lose our loved ones. They accompany us; they don't disappear from our lives. We are merely in different rooms." - Paulo Coelho
- "Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while." — The Princess Bride
- "Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time." — Maya Angelou
- "There is no remedy for love but to love more." — Henry David Thoreau
- "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." — Alfred Tennyson
Quotes for Platonic Soulmates
- "Friends are those rare people who ask how we are and then wait to hear the answer." — Ed Cunningham
- "My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me." — Henry Ford
- "Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends." — Virginia Woolf
- "True love is singing karaoke 'Under Pressure' and letting the other person sing the Freddie Mercury part." — Mindy Kaling
- "Love is being stupid together." — Paul Valery
- "I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature." — Jane Austen
- "I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people." — Vincent van Gogh
- "They invented hugs to let people know you love them without saying anything." — Bill Keane
Quotes for Self-Love
- "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." — John Lennon and Paul McCartney
- "You're always with yourself, so you might as well enjoy the company." — Diane Von Furstenberg
- "The most important relationship in your life is the relationship you have with yourself." — Diane Von Furstenberg
- "We accept the love we think we deserve." — Stephen Chbosky
- "Love yourself first and everything else falls into line." — Lucille Ball
- "Never love anyone who treats you like you're ordinary." — Oscar Wilde
- "To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance." — Oscar Wilde
