Unless you’re a love struck teenager, you’ll know true romance isn’t all flowers and toddler-sized teddy bears. If you’re in it for the long run, love becomes more about the little things. The not-at-all grand gestures. Like making them a sandwich, unprompted. Or raising an eyebrow that says ‘I still fancy you’ from across the room. So yes, your Valentine’s Day card might be late this year. It might appear in the form of a sticky note on the car dashboard instead. But this is when a few well-chosen words can make a real difference to your loved one’s day.
These famous quotes about love are your Valentine’s Day inspiration to say the unsaid this year. From classic cinema quotes to lines of poetry, they’ve all been chosen for their ‘hard relate’ status over their gushing prose. Browse our list for words of real-life, everyday, through-thick-and-thin love that will still make their heart flutter like a teenager (even if just for a second).
Famous love quotes from movies
Big screen inspiration for those little moments. Words they’ll recognise, even if they’re terrible with actors’ names.
• “In my opinion, the best thing you can do is find someone who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you.” – Juno
• “Love don’t make things nice, it ruins everything. It makes things a mess. We aren’t here to make things perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us.” – Moonstruck
• “When two people decide with eyes wide open to face each other and get married anyway, then I don’t think it’s conservative or delusional. I think it’s radical and courageous and very romantic.” – Frida
• “Sometimes you love a person just because they feel like home.” – Bridget Jones’s Diary
• “You are not unlovable. There is always something to love. Even in a stupid, stupid universe where we have hot dogs for fingers, we get very good with our feet.” – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Famous love quotes of Shakespeare
Quotes from England’s greatest wordsmith to impress your literature-loving better half.
•“The course of true love never did run smooth.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
•“Love comforteth like sunshine after rain.” – Venus and Adonis
•“I love you more than words can wield the matter, Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty.” – King Lear
• “One half of me is yours, the other half yours, Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then yours, And so all yours.” – The Merchant of Venice
•“Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.” – Romeo and Juliet
Quotes about marriage
Reflections on love that’s more of a marathon than a sprint (ideally with less spandex).
•“I love being married. It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.” – Rita Rudner
•“A good marriage is one where each partner secretly suspects they got the better deal.” – Anonymous
•“A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.” – Mignon McLaughlin
• “A great marriage is not when the ‘perfect couple’ comes together. It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences.” – Dave Meurer
•“Love doesn’t make the world go round; love is what makes the ride worthwhile.” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Funny quotes about love
Words to inspire smirks, chuckles and even that nostril-flaring thing you secretly love.
•“I love you no matter what you do, but do you have to do so much of it?” – Jean Illsley Clarke
•“I love you more than coffee. But please don’t make me prove it.” – Anonymous
• “True love comes quietly, without banners or flashing lights. If you hear bells, get your ears checked.” – Erich Segal
• “If you can stay in love for more than two years, you’re on to something.” – Fran Lebowitz
•“Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties.” – Jules Renard
Short love quotes
Words of love that fit in a WhatsApp message. More meaningful than a sparkly love heart emoji.
•“I love you and it’s getting worse.” – Joseph E. Morris
•“I am yours. No refunds.” – Anita Bath
• “Love is blind but marriage is a real eye-opener.” – Pauline Thomason
• “It wasn’t love at first sight. It took a full five minutes.” – Lucille Ball
• “Love is being stupid together.” – Paul Valery
Love quotes by famous poets
Odes. Verses. Lyrics. And not a dirty limerick in sight. Add a touch of class to your Valentine’s Day card.
•“Unless you love someone, nothing else makes any sense.” – e. e. cummings
•“If I know what love is, it is because of you.” – Hermann Hesse
•“Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be.” – Robert Browning
•“Love is an irresistible desire, to be irresistibly desired.” – Robert Frost
• “All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon the sand.” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox
