“You have to know your own heart and after that you have to risk breaking it.” -Wildfire

“Wounds heal faster if you don’t risk constantly reopening them.”

“Three months ago, if you asked me, I would have told you that if you really loved someone, you’d let them go. But now I look at you, and I dream about her, and I see that I’ve been wrong. If you really love someone, I think you have to take them back.” -Mercy by Jodi Picoult

“You’ll eventually move on and find someone else. The tears will soon dry up and the memories fade, but they will always be there as a permanent reminder that you too once fell.”

“Okay. The best way to get over an it-doesn’t-matter guy is to find a new one. Preferably one who looks good bare chested in red suspenders.” – Beauty and the Beast

“Olivia: My gut tells me she’s in this. She’s in this with you. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, but you have to try. Because if you try, if you leap, and you try, and it doesn’t work, it’s not on you.” – Scandal

“As friends, as human beings, we all try to do the best we can. but the world is full of unexpected twists and turns, and, just when you’ve gotten the lay of the land, the ground underneath you shifts and knocks you off your feet. if you’re lucky, you end up with nothing more than a flesh wound– something a band-aid will cover. but, some wounds are deeper than they first appear and require more than just a quick fix. with some wounds, you have to rip off the band aid, let them breathe, and give them time, to heal.” -Grey’s Anatomy

“I don’t know if I continue, even today, always liking myself, but what I learned to do many years ago was to forgive myself; it is very important for every human being able to forgive himself or herself, because if you live, you will make mistakes. it is inevitable. but once you do, and you see the mistake, then you forgive yourself and say, ‘well if I’d known better I’d have done better,’ that’s all, so you say to people who you think you may have injured, ‘I’m sorry,’ and then you say to yourself, ‘I’m sorry.’ if we all hold on to the mistake, we can’t see our own glory in the mirror because we have the mistake between our faces and the mirror. we can’t see what were capable of being. you can ask forgiveness of others but in the end the real forgiveness is in ones own self. I think that young men and woman are so caught by the way they see themselves, now mind you, when a larger society sees them as unattractive, as threats, as too black or too white, or too poor or too fat or too thin, or too sexual or too asexual, that’s rough, but you can overcome that, the real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself, if we don’t have that we never grow, we never learn, and sure as hell we could never teach.”

“Who gets to determine when the old ends and the new begins? It’s not on the calendar, it’s not a birthday, it’s not a new year, it’s an event –big or small, something that changes us, ideally it gives us hope, a new way of living and looking at the world, letting go of old habits, old memories. What’s important is that we never stop believing we can have a new beginning, but it’s also important to remember amid all the crap are a few things really worth holding on to.” – Grey’s Anatomy

“Zoe may not be with Judson today, but there are a lot of other Judsons out there. Serious men with adult responsibilities who have the sense to tell the girl how they feel. But right now there is no one else. The only thing keeping you from being with Zoe Hart is you.” – Hart of Dixie

“Accept the things to which fate binds you and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.” -Marcus Aurelius

“loving someone’s gonna hurt, and the sooner you let yourself feel that, the sooner you’ll be able to love again.” – Dawson’s Creek

“Just remember, though, that any reasons you come up with are ultimately irrelevant. The harsh reality is that even if you have EVERYTHING else in common, the one thing you don’t have in common is the belief that this relationship can work, and that alone trumps your shared love of puppies, The Dave Matthews Band, and Mexican food.” – It’s Called a Breakup Because It’s Broken by Greg Behrendt and Amira Ruotola-Behrendt

“I think all of us want to feel something that we have forgotten or turned our backs on, because maybe we didn’t realize how much we were leaving behind. We need to remember what used to be good. If we don’t, we wont recognize it even if it hits you between the eyes.” – 13 going on 30

“There comes a time in your life when you must decide between what you feel and what you know. You must choose between your heart and your mind, between love and the truth. Sometimes, the love you feel will hide the truth from your mind; but seldom from your soul. The bond between your heart and your mind is the strongest and one will try and overpower the other at all times. But neither one, alone, or together, can overpower your soul, for they do not possess the ability, nor the strength. Only your soul can guide you, and when the time does come for you to make a decision, you must be prepared for an inner conflict between your heart and you mind, so painful it can only be overcome by the strength your soul can provide. This is when you must force yourself to realize that your heart and your mind are the only links to your soul; they are controlled by your soul, and can act as one when you allow your soul to guide you.”

“So trust me when I say if a guy is treating you like he doesn’t give a shit, he genuinely doesn’t give a shit. No exceptions.” – He’s Just Not That Into You

“Take chances, take a lot of them. Because honestly, no matter where you end up and with whom, it always ends up just the way it should be. Your mistakes make you who you are. You learn and grow with each choice you make. Everything is worth it. Say how you feel always. Be you, and be okay with it.”

“Life is all about risks and it requires you to jump. Don’t be a person who has to look back and wonder what they would have, or could have had. No one waits forever…”

“People say love’s complicated but it’s not. be good to your partner: fight for him not with him. And above all, be honest.” – instant star

“Yes, I do. I’ve been in your shoes. You know what? It scared the hell out of me too. What if she hurt me? What if she left me? What if she died? It would have been the end of me. So I cut it short, before she ever could. And you know what? It was the biggest mistake I ever made. And you’re making the same mistake right now, and I’ll be goddamned if I’m going to sit by and watch. You’ve got to risk love Sandra! I didn’t and look at me! I’m a lonely ghost of a man. It doesn’t mean that you’re never going to get hurt, but the pain you feel will never compare to the regret that comes from walking away from love. And from someone who’s felt a lot of both trust me, regret beats pain everyday of the week and twice on Sunday. Don’t run away. Don’t do it.” – Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

“Either you make it through this thing or you keep it to yourself.” – Mad Men

“And it only matters how true you are.  Be true to yourself and follow your heart.” –  Hilary Duff, “Someone’s watching over me”

“Don’t play hard to get, you might miss something.” – Shag

“If he makes you cry more than he makes you smile, your tears are telling you something. So it’s time to be brave; hold your head up, dry those tears and walk away. ‘Cause the sun will shine tomorrow even if he isn’t around.”

Rules for settling or not

• If a man wants you, nothing can keep him away. If he doesn’t want you, nothing can make him stay.
• Stop making excuses for a man and his behavior. Allow your intuition to save you from heartache.
• Stop trying to change yourselves for a relationship that’s not meant to be.
• Slower is better. Never live your life for a man before you find what makes you truly happy.
• If a relationship ends because the man was not treating you as you deserve then heck no, you can’t “be friends.”
• A friend wouldn’t mistreat a friend. Don’t settle. If you feel like he is stringing you along, then he probably is.
• Don’t stay because you think “it will get better.” You’ll be mad at yourself a year later for staying when things are not better.
• The only person you can control in a relationship is you.
• Avoid men who’ve got a bunch of children by a bunch of different women.
• He didn’t marry them when he got them pregnant. Why would he treat you any differently?
• Always have your own set of friends separate from his.
• Maintain boundaries in how a guy treats you. If something bothers you, speak up. Never let a man know everything.
• He will use it against you later. You cannot change a man’s behavior.
• Change comes from within.
• Don’t EVER make him feel he is more important than you are… even if he has more education or is in a better job. Do not make him into a prince. He is a man, nothing more nothing less.
• Never let a man define who you are.
• A man will only treat you the way you ALLOW him to treat you.
• All men are NOT dogs.
• You should not be the one doing all the bending…compromise is a two-way street.
• You need time to heal between relationships…there is nothing cute about baggage… deal with your issues before pursuing a new relationship.
• You should never look for someone to COMPLETE you…a relationship consists of two WHOLE individuals…look for someone complementary…not supplementary.
• Dating is fun…even if he doesn’t turn out to be Mr. Right.
• Make him miss you sometimes…when a man always know where you are, and you’re always readily available to him he takes it for granted.
• Never move into his mother’s house. Never co-sign for a man.
• Don’t fully commit to a man who doesn’t give you everything that you need.
• Keep him in your radar but get to know others.
• They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them and an entire lifetime to forget them.

Rules for Settling or Not

“Cut your losses and don’t waste your time.

“Why don’t you stop trying to control everything in the known universe. It’s dinner. Have a little faith that it will all work out.” – Leap Year

“I was here for you in sixth grade. I’m here for you now, okay? Nothing you can say is gonna change that. Nothing. All right? And maybe if you just say these things, then you know, they’ll be out in the open — then your feelings won’t be as strong anymore. You know? I mean, you could be free.” – Dawson’s Creek

“You’re better off without him. Don’t call him. He’s breaking your heart.” – The Ataris

“It seems as though everyone is telling you to give up, but those words can’t seem to leave my mouth, because I know that’s the last thing you need to hear. If you really love him, don’t give up. I know that when I was going through the same thing you were going through, I had so many people telling me to just give up, and you know what, after a while I started to do just that. And maybe, just maybe, if I hadn’t, I’d have him right now. But all I know is if you really love him, don’t give up.”