Valentines Day: the day where people either celebrate love or mourn their lack of it. Whatever your feelings about the day, everyone can enjoy at least one Valentine’s Day activity: watching romantic comedies. Whether you need a movie to make you believe in love again or to celebrate the love you feel, these movies have the one-liners you’ll want to stitch on a pillow.
Here are 25 romantic quotes from everyone’s favorite Hollywood love stories, in no particular order.
1. “But our love is like the wind. I can’t see it, but I can feel it.” – A Walk to Remember
While Nicholas Sparks wrote a lot of beautiful love stories, A Walk to Remember remains the most pure, beautiful expressions of love of them all. Jamie and Landon are so innocent and honest in their love, and the whole film is chock-full of beautiful expressions of love, but this, Landon’s ending monologue, has got to be one of the best.
2. “I knew it the very first time I touched her. It was like coming home, only to no home I’d ever known. I was just taking her hand to help her out of a cab. And it was like… magic.” – Sleepless in Seattle
While this epic quote might not be about the main love story between Sam and Annie, it is still perfect. I mean, it made Annie fall for Sam just by hearing it, so you really can’t argue about how perfect it is.
3. “You jump, I jump, remember? I can’t turn away without knowing you’ll be alright.” – Titanic
“I hold out hope the right guy would say something like this to me,” said Sacramento State freshman Kassidy Coulter. Not only did Jack say it, but followed through with actions as well, which is what every girl wants. Unfortunately for Jack, he jumped into his icy grave while Rose hogged the driftwood, but the sentiment is still sweet.
4. “Love is patient, love is kind, love means slowly losing your mind.” – 27 Dresses
In typical romcom fashion, the “most unluckily” people to end up together always do. It’s especially more likely that the person who doesn’t believe in love at the beginning will be in love or believe in it by the end. All of which are true in 27 Dresses. Even though Kevin said this in a way to mock love, it still rings true as a perfect way to describe the imperfect, crazy side of love.
5. “It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there…If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around.” – Love Actually
Classic. This intro voiceover sets the scene for a movie filled with more love stories than almost any other movie. And it’s true, for the movie shows more types of love than you can imagine, and it’s beautiful.
6. “You’re the best thing I never knew I needed.” – The Princess and the Frog
“I think people are so concerned about every aspect of their relationship that when they finally meet their ‘perfect match,’ usually they realized they were looking for what they wanted rather than what they needed in a partner,” said Sonoma State senior SuJenna Griner.
7. “But mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.” – 10 Things I Hate About You
Even when the person you love has messed up repeatedly, and you wish you hated them and could move on, sometimes you just can’t. While Cameron and Bianca’s love story comes off more pure, Kat and Patrick’s messy romance really captures the ups and downs of love in an oddly beautiful and relatable way. Honestly, this is one of best movies to quote ever, not just about love. 10/10 for The 10.
8. “Why would you want to marry me for, anyhow?” “So I can kiss you anytime I want.” – Sweet Home Alabama
Solid reasoning. Like most of these other quotes show, love can get complicated, but sometimes it takes returning to the simple, blind, childlike love to be together, as Jake and Melanie found. It’s powerfully cute, enough so to bring lightening down, twice.
9. “So it’s not gonna be easy. It’s gonna be really hard. We’re gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you. Forever. You and me…every day.” – The Notebook
“I’m a hopeless romantic,” Coulter said. It’s sappy. It’s cheesy. But we can’t help falling for it. Personally, I think Noah and Allie have a flawed relationship, but I have absolutely no critiques about this gem.
10. “I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.” – The Fault in Our Stars
After all of all the millions of ways people have described love over the course of time, amazing people (like the amazing John Green) still write beautiful similes to describe love in the 21st century. Sometimes people try to fight the love creeping in on them, but once you let it in, it’s washes over you like a flood. It’s sappy, but it’s cute, okay? Okay.
11. “You were my new dream.” – Tangled
Disney has given us high expectations of love since Snow White hit theaters 80 years ago. Still, being someone’s dream makes for an attainable love goal, which makes it all the more touching. Also, you can’t help but love anything the animated, smouldering hero Flynn Rider says.
12. “It doesn’t matter if the guy is perfect of the girl is perfect, as long as they are perfect for each other.” – Good Will Hunting
“It reminds me that it’s okay to have flaws as a person and another person will still find you perfect to them,” Griner said. As newly forming adults in college, it should make your heart melt that someone might accept all of your shortcomings and bad habits.
13. “You love me, you’ve always loved me. And maybe if you’d said something sooner, our lives would be different.” – Eight Legged Freaks
“I think the fact that if he had told her sooner their lives could have been different shows how if we are maybe straight forward with the people we care about in life, it’ll make things better,” Mendocino Community College student Jameson Stein said. Take the leap and tell that cutie across the hall you have eyes for them before you move out, or your college experiences might change without your dreams coming true.
14. “I felt so peaceful… and safe… because I knew that no matter what happened, from that day on, nothing can ever be that bad… because I had you.” – 17 Again
It’s even more dreamy when you see Zac Efron say it. Still, quality movie, quality quote, (quality guy).
15. “Why me?” “Because you saw me when I was invisible.” – Princess Diaries
Ignoring the fact that in the next movie she leave this man for the beautiful Chris Pine, this moment was a lot of shy kid’s first love goals, complete with the foot-poppin’ kiss (and possibly finding out they’re royal).
16. “You complete me.” “You had me at hello.” – Jerry McGuire
Jerry McGuire turned out to be the love story we never knew we needed. Whether this movie can claim the original “you had me at hello” or not, the Tom Cruise and Renée Zellweger’s delivery of this scene makes most romantics melt.
17. “I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.” – Notting Hill
Julia Roberts stripped it down to the love basics here. Doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, it comes down to just simply asking another person to love you.
18. “As you wish.” – The Princess Bride
Only three simple words let Wesley show Buttercup the selfless love he has for her, and it sticks with her and most viewers.
19. “I love you very much, probably more than anybody could love another person.” – 50 First Dates
Adam Sandler might not pop up in your mind when you think of romantic love quotes, but the whole movie concept, down to this quote, warms the coldest of hearts.
20. “He is the cheese to my macaroni.” – Juno
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKm0860uHqQ
Not every expression of love fits “normal” standards, but everyone expresses themselves uniquely when love makes your brain and heart mushy.
21. “You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love… I love… I love you. And I never wish to be parted from you from this day on.” – Pride and Prejudice (2005)
The story of extreme hatred turned into passionate love, and this quote happens at the turn of it all.
22. “I’m not running away.” “Bullshit.” – How to Loose a Guy in 10 Days
Bet you didn’t know a swear word could make it in a love quote, but the next thing you know, Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson lock lips on the side of the bridge, just like that. Santa Rosa Junior College Katherine Jew likes the scene because it’s straightforward and calls Kate Hudson’s character out. “Sometimes people need to have their bluff called out, it’s like a punch in the face from reality,” Jew said.
23. “And there’s only one person that makes me feel like I can fly… That’s you.” – Hitch
The movie that taught us that anyone has a chance with anyone, and even those that appear to know everything about love, don’t always. Yes, this line made for the perfect, vulnerable love quote to end the movie.
24. “I propose we not make plans. I propose we give this thing a chance and let it work out how it works out. So what do you say, do you wanna not make plans with me?” – Leap Year
A perfectionist planner forgets everything she knows for love, and *spoiler alert* he meets her halfway. The compromise of love is beautiful.
25. “When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” – When Harry Met Sally
When you know, you know.
Disastrous Sex & Dating Stories: V-Day Edition
Written by Nicole Martin, sophomore, journalism and sociology, Pennsylvania State University
Valentine’s Day is full of chocolates, roses, and… your roommate’s parents walking in on you naked? For these unfortunate college students, what was supposed to be a day of love and romance turned into disaster and embarrassment.Take a look at what these brave students confessed were their most horrific Valentine’s Day experiences.
“Last Valentine’s Day my girlfriend and I decided to take our relationship to the next step and finally have sex for the first time. We had the entire thing planned perfectly with candles and soft music in my dorm room; you know, all the cliché romance stuff. As we started [getting busy] suddenly I heard the door swing open and it was my roommate standing there with his parents who were visiting for the weekend. It was this point that I realized I forgot one important detail of the evening: telling my roommate. In the shock of things I tried to cover up quickly and ended up pushing my girlfriend off the bed on accident, which left me on the bed in a blanket, my naked girlfriend on the floor, my roommate who couldn’t stop laughing and two completely horrified parents.” – Kyle Long, Albright College
“My sophomore year of college, I was single of Valentine’s Day and pretty down about it so I decided to try and find a date. I asked around and finally got a cutie to come to my friend’s party with me. He asked if it would be ok if he just met me there and I said that was fine. When I got to the party I told everyone about how hot, nice and sweet this guy was and everyone was pumped to meet him. Finally he got there and came in the door with another guy that I assumed he brought to not feel so awkward not knowing anyone, that was until he came up to me and my friends and said, ‘This is my boyfriend, John*.'” – Breana Hill, Bloomsburg University
“I had been dating my boyfriend for about a year at the time. I thought after that long of a time he would have known me better but I was completely proven wrong when he took me out for Valentine’s Day. When he first picked me up he showed up at the door with a box of coconut-filled chocolates and also a bouquet of carnations. I was a bit upset because I had told him that I hated coconut and also that carnations reminded me of funerals and that my favorite flowers were daisies, but I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to ruin the evening. However the night only got worse when he took me to Red Lobster where I had to tell him, again, that I was allergic to seafood. So instead of apologizing for not listening to me he got mad because he had made reservations and took me to Taco Bell for dinner, and didn’t even pay for that. It was by far the worst date of my life.” – Ashley Wilkins, Ohio University
“Probably one of my most embarrassing moments of my life was on Valentine’s Day last year. I had seen in a few movies how guys would take a knife to pop off the cork of champagne bottles and then pour it for their dates and I thought that it looked awesome, so I wanted to try it. When my date came over for dinner, everything was going great until I decided to try my ‘cool’ trick. When I slid the knife across the bottle it didn’t take off the cork, but I did manage to cut my finger and bleed all over the carpet. My date ended up having to take me to the hospital where I had to get three stitches in my hand. Luckily she was really sweet about the whole thing and accepted another make-up date with me after that. Those movies should definitely come with a ‘Don’t try this at home’ warning label.” – Andrew Mason, Community College of Allegheny County
*Some names have been changed for privacy.
*Article updated February 8, 2018 by Nicole Martin to include “Disastrous Sex & Dating Stories: V-Day Edition.”
