India Arie Quotes

I almost can’t believe I’m going to make myself vulnerable to him again. But what is love but the most extreme and exquisite form of risk perception? I know that relationships don’t last. And yet, with him, the risk of not being with him is much worse than any other hurt I can imagine.

And maybe that was love. Being so vulnerable and allowing someone else in so far they could hurt you, but they also give you everything.

would you dare to love me?

Sex isn't hard, but intimacy is terrifying.

I don't think I am scared of intimacy, but I am frightened of making a mistake. offering more than I have, or expecting more than you can give. - Matt Sedon

Maybe I was afraid to trust him with something so personal as my devotion.

I'm afraid I'll lose myself in you, Gideon. I'm scared I'll lose the part of me I worked so hard to get back." "I'd never let that happen." he promised fiercely. Chapter 8, pg 140

Even with my wife, I find sharing soup is hard.

Romantic love can be terrifying. We experience another human being as enormously important to us. So there is surrender - not a surrender to the other person so much as to our feeling for the other person. What is the obstacle? The possibility of loss.

I've never fallen in love right off the bat. I get scared to say I love you too soon because it means so much. It means you're not seeing an end to things.

I looked at other couples and wondered how they could be so calm about it. They held hands as if they weren't even holding hands. When Steve and I held hands, I had to keep looking down to marvel at it. There was my hand, the same hand I've always had - oh, but look! What is it holding? It's holding Steve's hand! Who is Steve? My three-dimensional boyfriend. Each day I wondered what would happen next. What happens when you stop wanting, when you are happy. I supposed I would go on being happy forever. I knew I would not mess things up by growing bored. I had done that once before.

Love is a vulnerable thing. Falling in love is like a great drug. But then to really be known and really let someone else be known is very vulnerable. It's a weird thing.

When you truly start to care about someone you become vulnerable to all sorts of things.

Oh, I wouldn't mind, Hazel Grace. It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you.

...available people are the ones who are dangerous, because they confront us with the possibility of real intimacy.

Loving someone is such an inherently dangerous act. And yet, love, that’s where safety lives.

If you love, you will suffer. The only way to protect yourself against suffering is to protect yourself against love - and that is the greatest suffering of all, loneliness.

I had stepped into his arms, showing him my raw, broken heart.

Intimacy requires courage because risk is inescapable.

When you fall in love, love deeply. Be tough but also be open to the possibility of forgiveness.

All I know is that I fell in love with you, and I've never been more frightened about anything in my entire life.

-The little things,Emma. The gestures,the moments. And the big. I let him see my heart. I gave it to him,even when I believed he couldn't or wouldn't take it. I gave it anyway-a gift. Even if he broke it. I was very brave. Love is very brave.

Fear destroys intimacy. It distances us from each other; or makes us cling to each other, which is the death of freedom.... Only love can create intimacy, and freedom too, for when all hearts are one, nothing else has to be one--neither clothes nor age; neither sex nor sexual preference; race nor mind-set.

We want to be in open, loving communion with each other and our greatest fear is intimacy. That it won't work and we'll be rejected.

To love at all is to be vulnerable.