Finding the right words to express the excitement, challenges, and beauty of dating can be tough. Whether you’re navigating new connections or simply looking for a little inspiration, these 76 carefully selected dating quotes capture the many emotions and experiences of love in its early stages. Dive in and let these words spark your heart and brighten your journey toward meaningful relationships.
1. “Ten Things You Shouldn't Say on a Date.1. You're wearing that?2. Something smells funny.3. Where's the Tylenol?4. And to think, I first wanted to date your brother.5. I have a confession to make…6. My dad has a suit just like that.7. That man is hot. Look at him.8. My ex, may he rot in hell forever…9. You're going to order that? Seriously?10. You're how old?” - Gena Showalter
2. “Maybe our girlfriends are our soulmates and guys are just people to have fun with.” - Candace Bushnell
3. “Dating is like trying to make a meal out of leftovers. Some leftovers actually get better when they've had a little time to mature. But others should be thrown out right away, No matter how you try to warm them up, they're never as good as when they were new.” - Lisa Kleypas
4. “Here's something else to think about: calling when you say you're going to is the very first brick in the house you are building of love and trust. If he can't lay this one stupid brick down, you ain't never gonna have a house baby, and it's cold outside.” - Greg Behrendt
5. “Busy' is another word for 'asshole'. 'Asshole' is another word for the guy you're dating.” - Greg Behrendt
6. “It was one thing to snuggle a little when the world seemed about to end, and quite another to explain to her parents that she wanted to date an ancient magical horse.” - Brandon Mull
7. “I wondered what happened when you offered yourself to someone, and they opened you, only to discover you were not the gift they expected and they had to smile and nod and say thank you all the same.” - Jodi Picoult
8. “He'd written me up a proposal of why dating him was a sound decision. It had included things like "I'll give up cigarettes unless I really, really need one" and "I'll unleash romantic surprises every week, such as: an impromptu picnic, roses, or a trip to Paris—but not actually any of those things because now they're not surprises.” - Richelle Mead
9. “...he had a way of taking your hand which made it clear he'd have to be the one to let go.” - Alice Hoffman
10. “Well, I’m sure you’ll find someone somewhere who’ll have you.” - J.K. Rowling
11. “We're taught that in life, we should try to look on the bright side. Not in this case. In this case, assume rejection first. Assume you're the rule, not the exception. It's liberating. But we also know it's not an easy concept. -He's not just into you” - Greg Behrendt
12. “Ordinarily, I am the person who falls in love quickly and somewhat inappropriately and then goes on to destroy what is a good thing. That's always been my style. So, you know: I get it. And I feel right now the way I imagine all those guys felt with me. And I have to say, for the first time in my life, I feel something approaching compassion for them.” - Sarah Dunn
13. “And I, Nephi, took one of the daughters of Ishmael to wife.' Well Mr. Go-And-Do just went and did!” - John Bytheway
14. “People always fall in love with the most perfect aspects of each other’s personalities. Who wouldn’t? Anybody can love the most wonderful parts of another person. But that’s not the clever trick. The really clever trick is this: Can you accept the flaws? Can you look at your partner’s faults honestly and say, ‘I can work around that. I can make something out of it.’? Because the good stuff is always going to be there, and it’s always going to pretty and sparkly, but the crap underneath can ruin you.” - Elizabeth Gilbert
15. “This is one rule about mixing boys and girls: that a date always comes first.” - Elizabeth Berg
16. “Amazing how being bathed in arterial blood can wash out any lingering romantic disappointments.” - Diana Peterfreund
17. “When I was younger I was attracted to gay guys and they were "attracted" to me. I don't exactly know why...But it turned out the gay guys were the ones holding all the cards, both physically and emotionally, and I've certainly paid the price for making that mistake. And so have all of the guys I've dated since.” - Hilary Winston
18. “I suppose it was that in courtship everything is regarded as provisional and preliminary, and the smallest sample of virtue or accomplishment is taken to guarantee delightful stores which the broad leisure of marriage will reveal. But the door-sill of marriage once crossed, expectation is concentrated on the present. Having once embarked on your marital voyage, it is impossible not to be aware that you make no way and that the sea is not within sight—that, in fact, you are exploring an enclosed basin.” - George Eliot
19. “Because', she said, 'your problems are not real problems. You're dating two beautiful girls at once. Think about it. That's like...having rock-star problems.''Having rock-star problems may be the closest I ever get to being an actual rock star.” - Cassandra Clare
20. “A man who offers to cook after he's seen you trying to freeze a dead dog has to be at least a little bit keen.” - Rosen Trevithick
21. “A guy should make the woman he is dating feel different and more special than anyone else in his life” - Samantha Daniels
22. “Do many guys ask you out twice?""Only the ones with balls.” - Cath Crowley
23. “I did it again. Lying guilty in a hotel room for a woman I will fail for.” - J.M. August
24. “Tanith frowned. Did people still go on DATES any more? She was sure they did. They probably called it something different though. She tried to think of the last date she'd been on. The last PROPER date. Did fighting side by side with Saracen Rue count as a date? They ended up snuggling under the moonlight, drenched in gore and pieces of brain - so it had PROBABLY been a date. If it wasn't, it was certainly a fun time had by all. Well, not ALL. But she and Saracen had sure had a blast.” - Derek Landy
25. “To say that one waits a lifetime for his soulmate to come around is a paradox. People eventually get sick of waiting, take a chance on someone, and by the art of commitment become soulmates, which takes a lifetime to perfect.” - Criss Jami
26. “Tess realized one of the great modern dating sadnesses: everyone is so used to the comforting glow of the computer screen that no one can go so far as to say "good morning" in public without being liquored up.” - Amelia Gray
27. “Yes, I totally would date a fan! I get this question a lot, but I'm always saying yes.” - Cody Simpson
28. “It is hard to feel safe and comfortable when the only measures for what is safe and comfortable are normative ideas you don't abide by.” - Samhita Mukhopadhyay
29. “It kind of struck me how great it would be to go out with a guy that size. And if you, you know, got tired of dating him, you could always use him as a house or something.” - Catherine Gilbert Murdock
30. “If you don't want to tear off the clothes of the person you're on a date with and jump into bed with them, then what's the point? I'd never date; instead, I'd have lots of good friends and hug them a lot and life would be easier and neater and uncomplicated.” - Rachel Machacek
31. “I've found that when you're wrapped up in the process of dating and want so badly to have something work out with someone -anyone- it's easy to forget that your choices aren't limited to one person or the other. There's also the choice I always forget about: To not choose anyone in order to keep myself open to someone who IS right for me.” - Rachel Machacek
32. “I believe with all my heart that the cliches are true, that we are our own best friends and best company, and that if you're not right for yourself, it's impossible to be right for anyone.” - Rachel Machacek
33. “Attitude determines Altitude.Winners never quit.No venture, No gain.” - Stella Oladiran
34. “The humiliation that Jane had felt turned to something else--grief perhaps, or regret. Regret that she had not known how to act with a boy, regret that she had not been wiser.” - Beverly Cleary
35. “There will never be a good time, financially, to get married, unless you're Shaq or Ray Romano. But somehow people manage. If your man is using money as an excuse not to marry you, it's your relationship that's insecure, not his bank account.” - Greg Behrendt
36. “I listen to the things people want out of love these days and they blow my mind. I go to the pub with the boys from the squad and listen while they explain, with minute precision, exactly what shape a woman should be, what bits she should shave how, what acts she should perform on which date and what she should always or never do or say or want; I eavesdrop on women in cafes while they reel off lists of which jobs a man is allowed, which cars, which labels, which flowers and restaurants and gemstones get the stamp of approval, and I want to shout, Are you people out of your tiny minds?” - Tana French
37. “You doan go diggin' for gold in an outhouse.” - Sandra Hill
38. “What you are as a single person, you will be as a married person, only to a greater degree. Any negative character trait will be intensified in a marriage relationship, because you will feel free to let your guard down -- that person has committed himself to you and you no longer have to worry about scaring him off.” - Josh McDowell
39. “I'm nothing but envious that you've been happily married for two years. Try hauling your cookies on a new blind date every Friday, only to have your, already extremely low, expectations dashed as you meet men who look like Quasimodo and have Homer Simpson's IQ. ” - Jane Green
40. “My brother trolled recovery and support groups, searching for women with dependency issues, the way I frequented bookstores with the hope of finding a well-adjusted, intelligent woman. Between us, his record was more stellar, his sin more reprehensible; though, knowing my brother, he slept soundly through the night without ever experiencing the slightest remorse.” - Richard J. O'Brien
41. “We are all somewhere else, during.” - Katie Crouch
42. “Courting is a much sweeter term than 'dating'. It sounds like it has more intent, more like an agreement that two people enter into with a future in mind.” - Kim Cattrall
43. “I think I’m going to cut down on my dating,’ Annie said. ‘I used to need a lot of attention. You know, to make up for that empty feeling inside. But boys aren’t always the answer.” - Francine Pascal
44. “In Bruce’s opinion, the only fun in dating was the sport of it. The more it was like a tennis match, where he had to wear down his opponent through expertise and sheer force of will, the better he liked it.” - Francine Pascal
45. “I don't know," she said. "We used to squabble a lot when we were going together and then engaged and everything, but I thought everything would be so different as soon as you were married. And now I feel so sort of strange and everything. I feel so sort of alone.” - Dorothy Parker
46. “You can never please everybody, don't even try.” - Stella Oladiran
47. “Outside of note passing and the occasional tight-lipped kiss after school events, "going together" in seventh grade was pretty meaningless. You couldn't drive, had nowhere to go, and either weren't allowed or couldn't afford to do anything. I was kind of like being an old married couple, except you could control you bowels and stay awake past 8 p.m.” - Eric Nuzum
48. “What's the point of changing who you are in order to impress a woman, when your intention is to return to who you were, a person she was never attracted to in the first place?” - Richelle E. Goodrich
49. “Some women like to treat a man like a piece of bubble gum. The poor sap thinks everything’s fine. And it is—until the taste runs out. Then she’ll just spit him out the car window of her life and never look back.” - Robert Burton Robinson
50. “Dating should really be more like furniture store commercials....I would love to' pay no interest for 6 months” - Josh Stern
51. “All those men who end up disappointing you. After a while, you don't even want to have feelings anymore. You just want to get on with your life.” - Candace Bushnell
52. “Yes, I understand why things had to happen this way. I understand his reason for causing me pain. But mere understanding does not chase away the hurt. It does not call upon the sun when dark clouds have loomed over me. Let the rain come then if it must come! And let it wash away the dust that hurt my eyes!” - Jocelyn Soriano
53. “It is our wounds that create in us a desire to reach for miracles. The fulfillment of such miracles depends on whether we let our wounds pull us down or lift us up towards our dreams.” - Jocelyn Soriano
54. “Sex makes you stupid” - Donna Barnes
55. “Valkyrie made a face. "Bloody vampires."Ryan sat forward. "That was a vampire? That guy who looked like an accountant?""We don't talk about vampires," Skulduggery warned."But it was daytime. How could he have been out during the-""We don't talk about vampires!" Valkyrie said sharply.Ryan shrunk back. "Sorry," he said."Don't worry about it," Skulduggery told him. "Valkyrie used to date a vampire that's all.""We didn't date ," Valkyrie said immediately.Skulduggery held a hand up. "I'm not judging."Valkyrie scowled.” - Derek Landy
56. “And I know I need to invite him over for dinner, because there's no question. This is serious.” - Tamara Ireland Stone
57. “The treasure shouldn't do the hunting, and you're a treasure.” - Ed Asner
58. “If my ex-husband could move on, I could, too. I would search for my gardener, someone who would help me to grow and bloom, but who would recognize the fragility of a new flower just starting to poke out of the ground.If I was lucky, he’d have a long cultivator.” - Tracy H. Tucker
59. “A person's readiness to date is largely a matter of maturity and environment.” - Myles Munroe
60. “I’ve said over and over again jokingly that the only way a woman can truly be completely satisfied is to get herself four different men—an old one, an ugly one, a Mandingo, and a gayguy. Now the four of them combined? They got you covered.” - Steve Harvey
61. “He went out with a variety of women, slept with some of them, hated the whole meaningless process. Drinks, dinners, plays and concerts and gallery openings ... He grew to despise the rigid formality of dating, missed the easy familiarity of simply being with someone, sharing friendly silences and unforced laughter.” - Ken Grimwood
62. “I think we're too young to be dating. I mean I don't see what the rush is." Summer says. "Yeah, I agree," said August. "Which is kind of a shame, you know what with all those babes who keep throwing themselves at me and stuff?” - R.J. Palacio
63. “In life, it is important that we act fast. If you don't act fast and act now, someone else will do exactly what you have thought of doing. Someone else would have fired while you were spending time aiming.” - Jan Mckingley Hilado
64. “I turned my ear toward the door because I heard him breathing. When you’re alone and afraid, the simple sound of the steady in and out of air being drawn by another person is good medicine.” - Laura Anderson Kurk
65. “I found I could only glance at him for tiny moments and then I had to look away. He was perfect enough to hurt my feelings for a long time, and I wanted to let him.” - Laura Anderson Kurk
66. “I smiled at him. Not even Wyatt would have known how to be this honorable when talking about a girl that had hurt him.” - Laura Anderson Kurk
67. “He carried her over the Owl Creek mountain range without stopping,” he said, quietly this time. “He carried her until he reached one of the hot springs around what became Chapin, and then he walked into the water with her and held her there for three days. He had about given up when she opened her eyes and whispered his name.” - Laura Anderson Kurk
68. “Next to the first Henry and Meg, Henry had written, “Promise?” Well, that genie’s out of the bottle and there’s no stuffing her back in.” - Laura Anderson Kurk
69. “Here’s what I learned about life when we were going through that. We’re all human and mortal. We’re all going to suffer and die. But it’s how we are with each other during those times that proves God’s here with us.” He turned his hand over in mine and entwined our fingers. “He comes in through people. People who love us anyway. They jump right into the chaos with us and try to help us make sense of it. That’s what mercy is…it’s choosing to help, or forgive, or love even when it goes against all logic.” - Laura Anderson Kurk
70. “His room was dark until he switched on his desk lamp. I sat on the floor next to his bed and watched him counting clothes and considering shoes. He seemed so boyish right then—like he wished his mom would just come in and pack for him. I couldn’t possibly love him any more than I did at that moment.” - Laura Anderson Kurk
71. “I'm thinking there should be a dating site called "Tap That" - Jonathan "Jack" McVoy” - E.J. Eisman
72. “All in all, the lunch date was fine. Like an opened can of soda in its second hour. If you were thirsty, you might take a sip or two, but I carried more hopes walking in to the restaurant than I did walking out.” - Heather Dugan
73. “I believe being a ‘gentleman’ goes well beyond holding the door for a girl and letting her go before you. It’s about being vulnerable for her. I think that when it comes to the way we treat women, it’s a good idea to look to the way Jesus treated women. He laid His life down for His bride,He sacrificed for her,He lowered Himself for her,He was vulnerable for her.We must love women vulnerably in the same way that Jesus loved His bride vulnerably. Being a gentleman is far more than being caring and thoughtful, it’s about possessing sacrificial and vulnerable Christ-like characteristics. I don’t know if it’s possible to be a gentleman without knowing and representing the character of Jesus.” - Cole Ryan
74. “Love is often confused with attraction. Love is an action, it’s a choice. We can choose to love someone. Attraction, however, is a feeling, it’s an emotion, it’s temporary.” - Cole Ryan
75. “He had the red serviette tucked into his t-shirt at the neck which made me laugh. He hadn’t done this since our third date when I had told him off for his bad manners.” - Kate Chisman
76. “A woman should be mindful that the key to one man's heart does not necessarily fits into the lock of another.” - Dennis E. Adonis
