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"Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve. Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow. She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book. Buy her another cup of coffee. Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or if she would like to be Alice. It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does. She has to give it a shot somehow. Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world. Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two. Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series. If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are. You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype. You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots. Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads. Or better yet, date a girl who writes."

- Rosemarie Urquico (in response to Charles Warnke’s You Should Date An Illiterate Girl)

(Source: fleurishes, via mermaidsongs)

"Yes, I was infatuated with you: I am still. No one has ever heightened such a keen capacity of physical sensation in me. I cut you out because I couldn’t stand being a passing fancy. Before I give my body, I must give my thoughts, my mind, my dreams. And you weren’t having any of those."

- Sylvia Plath  (via mermaidsongs)

(Source: troubled, via mermaidsongs)

"But I think of you whenever life gets me down I think of you whenever you’re not around You rest your bones Somewhere far from my own Yeah, but you still pull me home Just to put your mind at ease You don’t owe me anything You paid me well in memories"

- A Fine Frenzy

"So, here I sit thinking how lucky I am to have found you. People always say that when you meet the love of your life, you just know and this I know, you are the love of my life. You’ve taught me so much about life, honesty, forgiveness, relationships, courage, strength, happiness, and love. You are the best person to walk into my life and one I pray will never walk out. You have taught me how to make the best of each day. How to thank God each day that you were brought into my life. I know I have to work to keep you here, but whatever it takes, for you, I’ll do. You’ve taught me a lot about honesty. You hurt me when you’ve lied and I hurt you. But we learned from our mistakes and our lies, we forgave each other and we moved on. You’ve taught me so much about relationships, you’ve taught me about the healthy ones, the bad ones, and the ones I should have. You’ve helped me sort out my life, and realize I am a worthwhile person. You’ve taught me more about courage and strength than anyone I know. ‘Cause there have been times when I know you were holding on by a thread. There were times when you wanted nothing more than to be held and loved. God baby, I know these last couple of months have definitely not been the easiest. You’ve had to deal with a totally different and more complicated life. I know this hasn’t been easy. You taught me so much about being there for someone, about pain and needing someone. I will never forget the times that I held you and you cried in my arms, you let it all go and told me you needed me. I will never feel more loved than those moments. ‘Cause that’s when I realized my life was inevitably intertwined with yours. That no matter where I went from here, no matter how tough things got, we could get through them. That was when I realized I needed you and you needed me beyond what we could comprehend. That’s how you taught me about true love. You’ve taught me what love is, what it takes, and how it feels. I can never show you just how much I love you and how much you mean to my life and my heart, but I am going to spend the rest of my life trying to show you just how much you have meant to me. And even though I know I can never even come close to explaining how deeply, truly, and completely I love you, I promise you this, I will die trying. I love you."

"You never asked me to wait for you – and I don’t even know if you want me to. Heck, I don’t even know if I want to … but something is telling me that when you come back I’m going to be exactly what you want and you will realize I have been here all this time and you will wonder why you didn’t want me all along. And somehow, that will bring us to our happily ever after."

- ~ Felicity