“You tell me… to write you every day, and if I do not I know you will reproach me. But the very idea that you want a letter every morning will prevent me from writing me! Let me love you in my manner… Don’t force me to do anything, and I shall do everything. Understand me and don’t reproach me. If I thought you were frivolous and stupid, like other women, I would inundate you with promises, oaths… but I prefer to express less, not more, than the true feelings of my heart. A thousand kisses, everywhere, everywhere…”
– Gustave Flaubert (1821—1880), from a letter to Louise Colet (1810—1876), in: “Rage and fire: a life of Louise Colet, pioneer feminist, literary star, Flaubert’s muse” by Francine du Plessix Gray
“Absence lessens half hearted passions and increases great ones, as the wind puts out the candles and yet stirs up the fire.”
– Mike Royko (1932—1997), from a letter to Carol Joyce Duckman (1934—1979), postmarked April 22, 1954, in: “Royko in Love: Mike’s Letters to Carol”, by Mike Royko and David Royko
“We, who live here and now, are not for a moment satisfied in the time-world nor confined in it; we incessantly flow over and over to those who preceded us, to our origin, and to those who seemingly come after us.”
– Rainer Maria Rilke (1875—1926), from a letter to Witold Hulewicz, dated November 13, 1925, in: “The Dark Interval. Rainer Maria Rilke. Letters on Loss, Grief and Transformation”, translated from the German by Ulrich Baer
“I must smile – You’re sweet – all of you – outside & inside – touchable & untouchable – Above all that center about which no one knows – still does – A kiss! And more – Good Morning.”
– Alfred Stieglitz (1864—1946), from a letter to Georgia O’Keeffe (1887—1986), Lake George, New York, dated July 24, 1928, in: “My Faraway One. Selected Letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz. Volume 1, 1915—1933″
“I behold you without clouds. I see you the way I imagined you”
– Germaine de Staël (1766—1817), from a letter to O’Donnel, Coppet, dated 12 July, 1808, in: “Madame de Staël. Selected correspondence”, translated from the French by Kathleen Jameson-Cemper
“I love you so very much that I can hardly contain myself. I love you.”
– Captain Hunnicutt, from a letter to Virginia Dickerson, dated July 13, 1944 – V-mail, in: “Dearest Virginia. Love Letters from a Cavalry Officer in the South Pacific”, edited by Gayle Hunnicutt
“Please don’t be angry with me for the fragmentary and belated letters I have sent of late. I cannot begin to describe how complicated and full of care my life is. Half of my ‘replies’ are rush ones, a series of meaningless and reiterated exclamations. Naturally they annoy you.”
– Boris Pasternak (1890—1960), from a letter to Olga Freidenberg (1890—1955), Moscow, dated July 8, 1941, in: “The Correspondence of Boris Pasternak and Olga Freidenberg, 1910—1954″, translated from the Russian by Elliott Mossman and Margaret Wettlin
“Dear, why don’t you love me. Why aren’t we more loving and chummy. Why don’t you ever confide in me.”
– Carrie Hughes (1873—1938), from a letter to Langston Hughes (1902—1967), New York, N.Y., dated October 29, 1928, in: “My Dear Boy: Carrie Hughes’s Letters to Langston Hughes, 1926—1938”
“ – It’s pouring now – And there is a fog – the streets are slushy & slippery – the gutters little rivers – pneumonia weather.”
– Alfred Stieglitz (1864—1946), from a letter to Georgia O’Keeffe (1887—1986), New York City, dated January 15, 1918, in: “My Faraway One. Selected Letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz. Volume 1, 1915—1933″
“How good and kind you are!
And not well. That is the worst.”
– Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806—1861), from a letter to John Ruskin (1819—1900), dated December 24, 1855, in: “The Life and Work of John Ruskin” by William Gershom Collingwood
“It’s night again – and I want to write big but only have a few sheets of paper and may not go to town to get any for some time so I guess I had better write little.”
– Georgia O’Keeffe (1887—1986), from a letter to Alfred Stieglitz (1864—1946), Canyon, Texas, dated January 31, 1918, in: “My Faraway One. Selected Letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz. Volume 1, 1915—1933″
“I want terribly to speak with you. My soul is in upheaval. I don’t want to see anyone but you, because you are the only one I can talk to.”
– Anton Chekhov (1860—1904), from a letter to Alexey Suvorin (1834—1912), Moscow, dated December 9, 1889, in: “The Selected Letters of Anton Chekhov”, translated from the Russian by Sidonie Lederer
“I feel like calling you right now… What would I say if I called? I don’t know. I guess I’d say I love you. Maybe I should be content with just writing it and wait ‘til we can be together before I say it. Maybe as you said, people can fall out of love but the only way I could stop loving you would be to stop breathing. I’ve felt this way for so long I don’t remember when it started. I felt this way when there was no hope and then I learned that there is always hope. How could I ever stop. Maybe if I knew I would so I could find out what it’s like to live and feel normal. Other people don’t seem to react the way I do… One fellow I work with… met a girl, their love was mutual and they live happily ever after. It sounds too easy but I guess it’s possible. I must have been one of the people who were born to live a complicated life. Come to think of it, you are too.”
– Mike Royko (1932—1997), from a letter to Carol Joyce Duckman (1934—1979), postmarked May 13, 1954, in: “Royko in Love: Mike’s Letters to Carol”, by Mike Royko and David Royko
“Miracles, after all, do happen! And it is a miracle that certain people waft such joyous grace on others.”
– Andrey Bely (1880—1934), from a letter to Marina Tsvetaeva (1892—1941), dated June, 1922, in: “No Love Without Poetry. The Memoirs of Marina Tsvetaeva’s Daughter” by Ariadna Efron, edited and translated from the Russian by Diane Nemec Ignashev
“One more milestone, one more year to your record. Dear One may you always know naught but joy and your path strewn with blessings, good wishes, love and peace. May you never know real sorrow, but instead so live that contentment will crown your whole life.”
– Carrie Hughes (1873—1938), from a letter to Langston Hughes (1902—1967), New York, N.Y., dated October 29, 1928, in: “My Dear Boy: Carrie Hughes’s Letters to Langston Hughes, 1926—1938”
“If I had not had you, I should most likely have turned into a block of wood; but now I am a human being again.”
– Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821—1881), from a letter to Maria Issayeva, dated June 4, 1855, in: “Fyodor Dostoevsky: Memoirs, Letters and Autobiographical Novels”, translated from the Russian by Ethel Colburn Mayne, John Middleton Murry, and S.S. Koteliansky
“Have you more courage than I have? Give me some of it?”
– George Sand (1804—1876), from a letter to Gustave Flaubert (1821—1880), at Nohant, dated September 6, 1871, in: “The George Sand-Gustave Flaubert