100 Quotes About Unrequited Love

Love is a beautiful thing. But it can also be quite tricky. It can give us more than we ever thought possible. But it can also leave us with broken hearts Read more

And sometimes, love just isn’t meant to be. We’ve put together a list of the top unrequited love quotes that you need to know about right now.

Because, if you could love someone, and keep loving them,...
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Because, if you could love someone, and keep loving them, without being loved back .. . then that love had to be real. It hurt too much to be anything else. Sarah Cross
Snape's patronus was a doe, ' said Harry, 'the same...
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Snape's patronus was a doe, ' said Harry, 'the same as my mother's because he loved her for nearly all of his life, from when they were children. J.k. Rowling
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...unrequited love does not die; it's only beaten down to a secret place where it hides, curled and wounded. For some unfortunates, it turns bitter and mean, and those who come after pay the price for the hurt done by the one who came before. Elle Newmark
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Maybe I was destined to forever fall in love with people I couldn’t have. Maybe there’s a whole assortment of impossible people waiting for me to find them. Waiting to make me feel the same impossibility over and over again. Carol Rifka Brunt
If you don't receive love from the ones who are...
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If you don't receive love from the ones who are meant to love you, you will never stop looking for it. Robert Goolrick
Love Jo all your days, if you choose, but don't...
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Love Jo all your days, if you choose, but don't let it spoil you, for it's wicked to throw away so many good gifts because you can't have the one you want. Louisa May Alcott
There comes a time in your life when you have...
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There comes a time in your life when you have to choose to turn the page, write another book or simply close it. Shannon L. Alder
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She hardly ever thought of him. He had worn a place for himself in some corner of her heart, as a sea shell, always boring against the rock, might do. The making of the place had been her pain. But now the shell was safely in the rock. It was lodged, and ground no longer. T.h. White
Unrequited love is the infinite curse of a lonely heart.
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Unrequited love is the infinite curse of a lonely heart. Christina Westover
A mighty pain to love it is, And 't is...
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A mighty pain to love it is, And 't is a pain that pain to miss; But of all pains, the greatest pain It is to love, but love in vain. Abraham Cowley
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Shut up…let me tell you, LET ME. Every time I look at your face or even remember it, it wrecks me. And the way you are with me and you’re just fun and you shit all over me and you make fun of me and you’re real. I don’t have enough time in any day to think about you enough... I don’t even think about women anymore. I think about you. Louis C.K.
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Being in love with someone who doesn't even know you exist isn't the worst thing in the world. In fact, it's quite the oppostie. Almost like passing in a term paper that you know sucked, but having that period of time where you haven't gotten your grade back yet -- that kind of exhale where you haven't been rejected, although you pretty much know how it's going to turn out. Tonya Hurley
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Sometimes no matter how many eyelashes or dandelion seeds you blow, no matter how much of your heart you tear out and slap on your sleeve, it just ain't gonna happen. Melissa Jensen
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I was trying to make you jealous! " Simon screamed, right back. His hands were fisted at his sides. "You're so stupid, Clary. You're so stupid, can't you see anything?" She stared at him in bewilderment. What on earth did he mean? "Trying to make me jealous? Why would you try to do that?" She saw immediately that this was the worst thing she could have asked him." Because, " he said, so bitterly that it shocked her, "I've been in love with you for ten years, so I thought it seemed like the time to find out whether you felt the same about me. Which, I guess you don't. Cassandra Clare
The most confused you will ever get is when you...
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The most confused you will ever get is when you try to convince your heart and spirit of something your mind knows is a lie. Shannon L. Alder
Nothing had changed. I was the stupid one again. I...
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Nothing had changed. I was the stupid one again. I was the girl who never understood who she was to people. Carol Rifka Brunt
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When you loved someone and had to let them go, there will always be that small part of yourself that whispers, "What was it that you wanted and why didn't you fight for it? Shannon L. Alder
I want him to see the flowers in my eyes...
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I want him to see the flowers in my eyes and hear the songs in my hands. Francesca Lia Block
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No." Magnus strode toward him. "I didn't call you because I'm tired of you only wanting me around when you need something. I'm tired of watching you be in love with someone else-someone, incidentally, who will never love you back. Not the way I do. Cassandra Clare
The knowledge that she would never be loved in return...
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The knowledge that she would never be loved in return acted upon her ideas as a tide acts upon cliffs. Thornton Wilder
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When I talk about unrequited love, most of you probably think about romantic love, but there are many other kinds of love that are not adequately returned, if they are returned at all. An angry adolescent may not love her mother back as her mother loves her; an abusive father doesn't return the innocent open love of his young child. But grief is the ultimate unrequieted love. However hard and however long we love someone who has died, they can never love us back. At least that is how it feels.. Rosamund Lupton
Soul connections are not often found and are worth every...
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Soul connections are not often found and are worth every bit of fight left in you to keep. Shannon L. Alder
I wanted to see the place where Margaret grew to...
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I wanted to see the place where Margaret grew to what she is, even at the worst time of all, when I had no hope of ever calling her mine. Elizabeth Gaskell
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She loved him. But he didn’t know how to love. He could talk about love. He could see love and feel love. But he couldn’t give love. He could make love. But he couldn’t make promises. She had desperately wanted his promises. She wanted his heart, knew she couldn’t have it so she took what she could get. Temporary bliss. Passionate highs and lows. Withdrawal and manipulation. He only stayed long enough to take what he needed and keep moving. If he stopped moving, he would self-destruct. If he stopped wandering, he would have to face himself. He chose to stay in the dark where he couldn’t see. If he exposed himself and the sun came out, he’d see his shadow. He was deathly afraid of his shadow. She saw his shadow, loved it, understood it. Saw potential in it. She thought her love would change him. He pushed and he pulled, tested boundaries, thinking she would never leave. He knew he was hurting her, but didn’t know how to share anything but pain. He was only comfortable in chaos. Claiming souls before they could claim him. Her love, her body, she had given to him and he’d taken with such feigned sincerity, absorbing every drop of her. His dark heart concealed. She’d let him enter her spirit and stroke her soul where everything is love and sensation and surrender. Wide open, exposed to deception. It had never occurred to her that this desire was not love. It was blinding the way she wanted him. She couldn’t see what was really happening, only what she wanted to happen. She suspected that he would always seek to minimize the risk of being split open, his secrets revealed. He valued his soul’s privacy far more than he valued the intimacy of sincere connection so he kept his distance at any and all costs. Intimacy would lead to his undoing–in his mind, an irrational and indulgent mistake. When she discovered his indiscretions, she threw love in his face and beat him with it. Somewhere deep down, in her labyrinth, her intricacy, the darkest part of her soul, she relished the mayhem. She felt a sense of privilege for having such passion in her life. He stirred her core. The place she dared not enter. The place she could not stir for herself. But something wasn’t right. His eyes were cold and dark. His energy, unaffected. He laughed at her and her antics, told her she was a mess. Frantic, she looked for love hiding in his eyes, in his face, in his stance, and she found nothing but disdain. And her heart stopped. G.G. Renee Hill
It's delicious to have people adore you, but it's exhausting,...
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It's delicious to have people adore you, but it's exhausting, too. Particularly when your own feelings don't match theirs. Tasha Alexander
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I didn't call you because I'm tired of you only wanting me around when you need something. I'm tired of watching you be in love with someone else - someone, incidentally, who will never love you back. Not the way I do. Cassandra Clare
But that afternoon he asked himself, with his infinite capacity...
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But that afternoon he asked himself, with his infinite capacity for illusion, if such pitiless indifference might not be a subterfuge for hiding the torments of love. Unknown
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I love you. I hate you. I like you. I hate you. I love you. I think you’re stupid. I think you’re a loser. I think you’re wonderful. I want to be with you. I don’t want to be with you. I would never date you. I hate you. I love you….. I think the madness started the moment we met and you shook my hand. Did you have a disease or something? Shannon L. Alder
Unrequited love is so boring. Weeping under a blue-black sky...
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Unrequited love is so boring. Weeping under a blue-black sky is for suckers or maniacs. Alice Hoffman
He was a gentle and sensitive soul, and therefore had...
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He was a gentle and sensitive soul, and therefore had a short temper, which is why he went straight after everything with an ax... Bohumil Hrabal
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Love is as simple as the absence of self given to another. God, when invited, fills the void of any unrequited love; hence loving is how one is drawn closer to God no matter its most horrific repercussions. Criss Jami
If music be the food of love, play on, Give...
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If music be the food of love, play on, Give me excess of it; that surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. William Shakespeare
His hands are saying that he wants to hold her....
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His hands are saying that he wants to hold her. His feet are saying that he wants to chase after her... He's probably forgotten that I'm here, beside him Ai Yazawa
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Its been six weeks, " he murmured. "Six weeks I've wanted you. I know how you move, and how the sunlight makes a shadow on the curve of your cheek, and the shape of your ear." He chucked harshly then turned his head on the pillow to look at her. "I'm dying, " he said. He dropped his fist against his chest. "Right here, you're killing me. Laura Kinsale
He shrank from hearing Margaret's very name mentioned; he, while...
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He shrank from hearing Margaret's very name mentioned; he, while he blamed her — while he was jealous of her — while he renounced her — he loved her sorely, in spite of himself. Elizabeth Gaskell
Among my stillness was a pounding heart.
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Among my stillness was a pounding heart. Shannon A. Thompson
There was a time when our desire for each other...
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There was a time when our desire for each other would have landed us in an asylum or prison, had it not been sanctioned by mutual assent. True or false. Lawrence Krauser
Your memory feels like home to me. So whenever my...
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Your memory feels like home to me. So whenever my mind wanders, it always finds it’s way back to you. Ranata Suzuki
You may marry Miss Grey for her fifteen pounds but...
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You may marry Miss Grey for her fifteen pounds but you will always be my Willoughby. My nightmare. My sorrow. My past. My mistake. My regret. My love. Shannon L. Alder
My heart had been touched by him, battered by him,...
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My heart had been touched by him, battered by him, cradled by him as the days passed. He was cruel without meaning to be yet he was kind, and I needed him too much to let myself want him Mackenzie Herbert
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..Usually i’d sit back and just enjoy the view for what it was because it’s not often you come across something so ridiculously out of place, a girl like you, on the subway, it’s like spotting a unicorn at the zoo. I reasoned how to pull this off, to get you, to say hi, to ask your name, what your voice sounded like, if you had a cute smile because i like cute smiles. In ten minutes I had a thousand thoughts of you and you had no clue.. Stephan K. Garcia
Every broken heart has screamed at one time or another:...
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Every broken heart has screamed at one time or another: Why can't you see who I truly am? Shannon L. Alder
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Why should you think that I should woo in scorn? Scorn and derision never come in tears: Look, when I vow, I weep; and vows so born, In their nativity all truth appears. How can these things in me seem scorn to you, Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true? William Shakespeare
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I caught myself thinking about falling in love with someone who I hoped was out there right now thinking about the possibility of me, but I quickly banished the notion. It was that kind of thinking that landed me in this situation to begin with. Hope can ruin you. Perry Moore
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…the sad part is, that I will probably end up loving you without you for much longer than I loved you when I knew you. Some people might find that strange. But the truth of it is that the amount of love you feel for someone and the impact they have on you as a person, is in no way relative to the amount of time you have known them. Ranata Suzuki
There is an ocean of silence between us… and I...
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There is an ocean of silence between us… and I am drowning in it. Ranata Suzuki
I had someone once who made every day mean something....
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I had someone once who made every day mean something. And now…. I am lost…. And nothing means anything anymore. Ranata Suzuki
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It’s painful, loving someone from afar. Watching them — from the outside. The once familiar elements of their life reduced to nothing more than occasional mentions in conversations and faces changing in photographs….. They exist to you now as nothing more than living proof that something can still hurt you … with no contact at all. Ranata Suzuki
If you cannot hold me in your arms, then hold...
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If you cannot hold me in your arms, then hold my memory in high regard. And if I cannot be in your life, then at least let me live in your heart. Ranata Suzuki
I miss that feeling of connection. Knowing he was out...
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I miss that feeling of connection. Knowing he was out there somewhere thinking about me at the same time I was thinking about him. Ranata Suzuki
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When you experience loss, people say you’ll move through the 5 stages of grief…. Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance….. What they don’t tell you is that you’ll cycle through them all every day. Ranata Suzuki
The last time I felt alive — I was looking...
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The last time I felt alive — I was looking into your eyes. Breathing your air…. touching your skin…… Saying goodbye…. The last time I felt alive…. I was dying. Ranata Suzuki
He was both everything I could ever want… And nothing...
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He was both everything I could ever want… And nothing I could ever have… Ranata Suzuki
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I think perhaps I will always hold a candle for you — even until it burns my hand. And when the light has long since gone …. I will be there in the darkness holding what remains, quite simply because I cannot let go. Ranata Suzuki
Though these words will never find you, I hope that...
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Though these words will never find you, I hope that you knew I was thinking of you today….. and that I was wishing you every happiness. Love Always, The girl you loved once. Ranata Suzuki
I have poured my heart out ….And now I am...
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I have poured my heart out ….And now I am empty. Ranata Suzuki
The only place I ever felt at home was with...
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The only place I ever felt at home was with you. There isn’t a place for me anywhere anymore… I’ve been evicted. Ranata Suzuki
I would have followed you to hell and back... if...
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I would have followed you to hell and back... if only you'd lead me back. Ranata Suzuki
I raised you so high that every other man on...
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I raised you so high that every other man on earth is now doomed to live in your shadow. Ranata Suzuki
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Every quote, every book, every film seemed to suggest that ‘one day’ someone would come into my life and love me with an intensity and a passion I had never experienced before. And to their credit they were right; It all came and went so fast it really did feel as if it were just ‘one day’.... Ranata Suzuki
He looked at me like I was the stars when...
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He looked at me like I was the stars when all I’d ever felt like was the dark nothingness between them. Ranata Suzuki
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It’s the intricate details you miss the most. For me, it’s the soft lines around the eyes when he smiles… Or that look he gave me sometimes that I cannot begin to describe - but I would know it if I saw it again. It was the look that gave him away. I’d know that look anywhere… It used to be my everything. Ranata Suzuki
Like so many others my story begins with that same...
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Like so many others my story begins with that same old line…. ‘So anyway, there was this guy….’ Until one day…. there wasn’t. And nothing was ever the same after that…. Ranata Suzuki
Though life has fated that we never cross paths again,...
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Though life has fated that we never cross paths again, don’t ever feel alone. For we are parallel …. and I will always be by your side. Ranata Suzuki
Though it’s reasons to burn may vary... you are always...
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Though it’s reasons to burn may vary... you are always the fuel of my fire. Ranata Suzuki
It’s difficult for me to imagine the rest of my...
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It’s difficult for me to imagine the rest of my life without you. But I suppose I don’t have to imagine it... I just have to live it Ranata Suzuki
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It’s times like this…. when it’s over a year later and I’m still crying over you that I want to turn to you and say: See…. This is why I asked you never to kiss me. Ranata Suzuki
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My heart’s been empty since you left - but still I refuse to put up a vacancy sign. I’m just not ready for anybody else to move in yet. Ranata Suzuki
I write what I love. I will not stop —...
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I write what I love. I will not stop — even when my hand hurts….…. because I cannot stop — even though my heart hurts…. Ranata Suzuki
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I’d never dreamed anybody could love me the way he did. And even when he proved it to me time and again — I still could hardly believe it was true. Ranata Suzuki
It’s funny how we say a person ‘made’ us when...
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It’s funny how we say a person ‘made’ us when they actually broke us. Sort of like how I say ‘funny’... but I actually mean sad. Ranata Suzuki
How I wish I could undo it all … take...
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How I wish I could undo it all … take it all back… All those years I spent unhappy with him …. when I should have been looking for you. Ranata Suzuki
In a way, it was the same as any normal...
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In a way, it was the same as any normal break up. You took what was yours …. and I kept what I’d had from before we were together… You took my heart …. and I had nothing… Ranata Suzuki
They say “Follow your heart”….…. But I can’t follow you...
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They say “Follow your heart”….…. But I can’t follow you where you’re going… Ranata Suzuki
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They say the truth hurts. And these words hurt more than any I have ever written. But they are the truth — The cold, hard, undeniable truth. Not letting go doesn’t keep him with you. It’s still over. He’s still gone.… And nothing will ever change that. Ranata Suzuki
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Perhaps I was easier to shake off for you because you’re such a together person. I was just an extra layer on the outside… like a blanket you could shrug off and feel just the same…. except maybe a little colder…. But I was always a broken person that was haphazardly held together by little more than my own strength. And so you just seeped in the cracks and mingled with my insides until you became an inseparable part of me. And as painful as that is, it still kind of warms me to know I will always carry a part of you with me. Ranata Suzuki
It is the deepest of wrongs I am driven to...
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It is the deepest of wrongs I am driven to write…. And losing you was one of them. Ranata Suzuki
Your smile and your laughter lit my whole world.
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Your smile and your laughter lit my whole world. Ranata Suzuki
I don’t think you ever really understood….…. All the love...
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I don’t think you ever really understood….…. All the love I had in the world went to you. Ranata Suzuki
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How many times did we pass each other before we met? If only I’d known…. I would have searched for you endlessly. If only I’d found you before it was already too late. Ranata Suzuki
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When I was with him suddenly I wasn’t this broken person anymore. I was just me. I was whole again. I was just a person — like everyone else. Ranata Suzuki
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With you in my life I felt like I could conquer anything. It was as if I was on top of the world and even the stars themselves were just within my grasp. But without you …. even getting through the day is hard. Ranata Suzuki
I need to stop running back to you in my...
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I need to stop running back to you in my mind all the time. Ranata Suzuki
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Some people will hate you for not loving them. Mokokoma Mokhonoana
We are way less likely to love someone just because...
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We are way less likely to love someone just because they love us than we are to hate someone just because they hate us. Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Our parting was like a stalemate…. Neither of us won....
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Our parting was like a stalemate…. Neither of us won. Yet both of us lost. And worse still … that unshakable feeling that nothing was ever really finished. Ranata Suzuki
Though I never really had you….… to me you will...
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Though I never really had you….… to me you will always be the one that got away. Ranata Suzuki
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You’re everything to me. But at best, I’m just a memory to you. Ranata Suzuki
A kiss….….. is just a kiss…. Until it’s all you...
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A kiss….….. is just a kiss…. Until it’s all you reminisce.( Then the memory becomes your most treasured possession.) Ranata Suzuki
There is something strangely ecstatic, oddly fascinating and infinitely magnetic...
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There is something strangely ecstatic, oddly fascinating and infinitely magnetic about unrequited love. Arshpreet Kaur
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You can miss places. You can miss people. Just know that what you’re really missing is the way things were. And even if you could go there again…. see them again…. you can’t go back. They’re not the same. You’re not the same. The loss of them changed you. Ranata Suzuki
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If you’re searching for a quote that puts your feelings into words — you won’t find it. You can learn every language and read every word ever written — but you’ll never find what’s in your heart. How can you? He has it. Ranata Suzuki
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I didn’t love you to seek revenge. I didn’t love you out of loneliness or unhappiness. I didn’t love you for any of the misguided reasons that time might convince you I did. I just loved you because you’re you. Ranata Suzuki
It hurts that I was just one page in the...
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It hurts that I was just one page in the book of your life… But what hurts more is knowing you’ll revise that chapter someday….….. and you’ll erase me completely. Ranata Suzuki
I try to do something positive — I socialise more…...
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I try to do something positive — I socialise more… But deep down I know the truth. An entire world of people can never replace the one that I’ve lost. Ranata Suzuki
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It’s just never going to get any easier is it. It’s never going away, this missing you. It’s going to become a sadness I incorporate into myself — along with all the other sadnesses — and quietly carry around with me forever… Ranata Suzuki
For you are you, and I am I, and once...
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For you are you, and I am I, and once we were we… but as long as I exist and so do you — know that I will always love you. Ranata Suzuki
I still think of you every day. But I’m trying...
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I still think of you every day. But I’m trying not to let it hurt me with the same intensity that it used to. Ranata Suzuki
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There’s only ever been one person I’ve looked at and thought…‘ I could quite easily spend the entire rest of my life with that man’. And sooner or later I need to accept that he’s spending it with somebody else. Ranata Suzuki
How do you love someone and just… walk away? Just...
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How do you love someone and just… walk away? Just like that. You just, go on as normal…. You get up, get dressed, go to work… How can you do that? How can you be okay with that? Ranata Suzuki