“There is no word for the recipient of the love. There is only a word for the giver. There is the assumption that lovers come in pairs.”

“lover, n.Oh, how I hated this word. So pretentious, like it was always being translated from the French. The tint and taint of illicit, illegitimate affections. Dictionary meaning: a person having a love affair. Impermanent. Unfamilial. Inextricably linked to sex.I have never wanted a lover. In order to have a lover, I must go back to the root of the word. For I have never wanted a lover, but I have always wanted lover, and to be loved.There is no word for the recipient of the love. There is only a word for the giver. There is the assumption that lovers come in pairs.When I say, Be my lover, I don't mean, Let's have an affair. I don't mean Sleep with me. I don't mean, Be my secret.I want us to go back to that root.I want you to be the one who loves me.I want to be the one who loves you.”

“A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the giver.”

“But then, gifts are like beauty, arethey not. It is in the eye of the recipient that they find their seat, not in the hand of the giver.”

“I used to think mercy meant showing kindness to someone who didn't deserve it, as if only the recipient defined the act. The girl in between has learned that mercy is defined by its giver. Our flaws are obvious, yet we are loved and able to love, if we choose, because there is that bit of the divine still smoldering in us.”

“I have never wanted a lover. In order to have a lover, I must go back to the root of the word. For I have never wanted a lover, but I have always wanted to love, and to be loved.”