Dorian

compliled by contributing editor Kate Stringer

Whether your heart becomes two sizes too big or too small on February 14, authors of the world have thoughts on love that will resonate with you. Here are 20 quotes about love for both the believers and detractors of Valentine’s Day.

Love quotes for the believers

“Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” – Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

“I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam.”  – The Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien

“She is a friend of mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It’s good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind.” -Beloved, Toni Morrison

“We accept the love we think we deserve.”  – The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky

“He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking.” – Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

“Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love.” -Hamlet, William Shakespeare

“Our relationship wasn’t the sun, the moon, the stars, but it wasn’t bullshit, either.” – This Is How You Lose Her, Junot Díaz

“Love is fragile and we’re not always the best caretakers. Even the best of us make mistakes. We just muddle through and do the best we can to hope this fragile thing survives by all odds.” – Last Song Nicholas Sparks,

“As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.” – The Fault in Our Stars, John Green

“Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears.

“After all this time?”

“Always,” said Snape.”  – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, JK Rowling

 

Love quotes for the detractors

“The only thing worse than a boy who hates you: a boy that loves you.”  – The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

“Could there be finer symptoms? Is not general incivility the very essence of love?” -Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen,

“Love is so short, forgetting is so long.” – Love,:Ten Poems, Pablo Neruda

“Could I love less, I should be happier now.” – Festus, Philip James Bailey

“One’s first love is always perfect until one meets one’s second love.” -The Exploits & Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy, Elizabeth Aston

“No one has ever loved anyone the way everyone wants to be loved.” – The Complete Neurotic’s Notebook, Mignon McLaughlin

“Love, n. A temporary insanity curable by marriage.” – The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce

“…if truth were everywhere to be shown, a scarlet letter would blaze forth on many a bosom…” – The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne

“Hearts will never be practical until they are made unbreakable.” – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

“One should always be in love. This is the reason why one should never marry.” – A Woman of No Importance, Oscar Wilde

What are you doing next Monday at 4pm?  We hope you’ve got our yearly alumni panel on your schedule.  The event features four English major alumni (with experience in law, education, finance, non-profit, writing, the arts) who will tell their stories of post-graduate life.  Students will be able to hear these UP grads talk about their paths to their present careers; there will also be plenty of time for discussion.

“Life After the English Major” will take place Monday, February 10^th from 4:00 PM -5:15 PM in Franz 128.

To preview the event, we talked to one of the panelists, Rachel Good, who is a member of the class of 2008 and now works as a Proposal Specialist at Ecova.

1.     Before you graduated, what did you do to prepare for a career after college?

I did very little. I worked full-time as a restaurant server while I was in college, leaving me little time to pursue internships, job shadows, etc. Also, because there was no clearly defined career path I wanted to follow, I struggled to identify any useful preparatory steps.

2.     What was one of the biggest difficulties you faced finding a job after college?

Portland has an overabundance of smart, passionate liberal arts graduates—it’s a tough market in which to differentiate yourself, particularly if you don’t have extensive professional experience or a network of well-positioned contacts.

3.     How did you find out about/receive your current position?

I was seeking to transition out of the nonprofit industry and had identified a number of promising companies in the Portland metro area; Ecova, my current employer, was one of these. They were hiring for the right position at the right time, so I went after it. Two interviews and a few writing samples later, I was offered the job.

4.     How has what you learned from studying English at U.P. helped to prepare you for your current position?

I benefit from the ability to think critically and write persuasively every day, two skills that UP’s English Department helped me hone. Writing proposals is very similar to writing thesis papers: You begin with a central argument (in this case, that Ecova should be awarded a particular contract), provide compelling evidence to support that argument, discuss and analyze this evidence, then reach your undeniable conclusion.

5.     What is the best advice you can give to a current English major anxious about job-hunting in the future?

Meet people. Think about positions you might want to pursue or companies you might want to work for and reach out to employees there for an informational interview. People love talking about themselves and you’ll gain valuable insight that will help you decide whether that job is right for you. You’ll also establish a valuable contact to put in a good word for you and advise you on your cover letter and resume if/when you apply.

         While adults typically tell you to watch out for STDs when you go to college, you may actually want to catch this one. We’re the Sigma Tau Delta English Honors Society chapter at UP, and we’re a group of hard-working English majors whose love of literature inspires our social life. Although we are brand new to campus, we are utilizing this club as an opportunity to, essentially, nerd-out in our obsession with the written, spoken, and heard word. We spent our first meeting this semester sharing what we read over break, laughing at the antics that happen in the English courses we share (Dr. Asarnow, what will we possibly do without you?!), and organizing our array of events. These events include weekend poetry slams and author readings as a group, and a Powell’s scavenger hunt.

However, our group combines this lit. love with the signature UP drive for social justice. In the works presently is a weekly visit to elementary schools through the educational organization, S.M.A.R.T. (Start Making A Reader Today), where we will read to children as a means of encouraging their literacy. As well, we’re looking into taking part in the Reading Fair held in March in the Chiles center.  What better way to invigorate your spirit than a group of bright-eyed kids and, for instance, Where the Wild Things Are?

            Yet as classic literature enthusiasts, we’re looking beyond what we see. As one of our group members, Will Lyons, reflected, “I want to make writers less anonymous on campus.” We want to discover the hidden literary talents on campus and possibly profile them. Whether this profile of student writers becomes a video or written collaboration, we idealize the student body becoming more aware of literary skills beyond the humanities department. Reading, writing, and reflective thinking isn’t an “English major thing,” it’s a human thing, and we want to make that more evident. So here we go, STD swarming the Bluff!