Burton, the great seducer, appeared to ignore her at first, then he edged over to her and said fatuously, "Has anybody ever told you that you're a very pretty girl?"As recounted in her 1965 memoir, Elizabeth Taylor, she couldn't believe the lameness of that gambit. "Here's the great lover, the great wit, the great intellectual of Wales, and he comes out with a line like that.

Having discovered one of the great love affairs of the past century in a lay around number of Vanity Fair, we are even more convinced of the catastrophe that faces mankind if the art of writing love letters should become extinct. Richard Burton's correspondence with his lady, Liz, simply makes us wish that more men would surrender to love totally.

Well, first of all, you must realize that I worship you. Second of all, at the expense of seeming repetitive, I love you. Thirdly, and here I go again with my enormous command of language, I can't live without you. Thirdly, I mean fourthly, you have an enormous responsibility because if you leave me I shall have to kill myself. There is no life without you, I'm afraid. And I am afraid. Afeared. In terms of my life, scared. Lost. Alone. Dull . Dumb. (That will be the day.) And fifthly , and I hope I will never repeat myself, I fancy you. I bet that you would be alright if you loved me and stuff like that.
---

I love you, lovely woman. If anybody hurts you, just send me a line saying something like "Need" or 'Necessary" or just the magic word "Elizabeth," and I will be there somewhat faster than sound. You must know, of course, how much I love you. You must know, of course, how badly I treat you. But the fundamental and most vicious, swinish, murderous, and unchangeable fact is that we totally misunderstand each other... we operate on alien wavelenghts. You are as distant as Venus - planet, I mean - and I am tone-deaf to the music of the spheres.
---

...so why don't you come down and visit me? I'll show you a good time... I love you. Very very very odd curious strange bizarre unattractive without you. Millions of kisses and hugs. The bed is huge!

All excerpts from A Love Too Big To Last by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, Vanity Fair, July 2010.

It always reassuring to find our thoughts put to words by Nobel prize winners. Love in the time of cholera is an wonderful example of the genius of Gabriel García Márques and the human race's infinite and eternal search for passion.

From the first moonlit night, both of them broke their hearts in the fierce love of inexperience. But Angeles Alfaro left as she had come, with her tender sex and her sinner's cello, on an ocean liner that flew the flag of oblivion, and all that remained of her on the moonlit roofs was a fluttered farewell with a white handkerchief like a solitary sad dove on the horizon, as if she were a verse from the Poetic Festival. With her Florentino Ariza learned what he had already experienced many times without realizing it: that one can be in love with several people at the same time, feel the same sorrow with each, and not betray any of them. Alone in the midst of the crowd on the pier, he said to himself in a flash of anger: "My heart has more rooms than a whorehouse."

I have a history of making decisions very quickly about men. I have always fallen in love fast and without measuring risks. I have a tendency not only to see the best in everyone, but to assume that everyone is emotionally capable of reaching his highest potential. I have fallen in love more times than I care to count with the highest potential of a man, rather than with the man himself, and I have hung on to the relationship for a long time (sometimes far too long) waiting for the man to ascend to his own greatness. Many times in romance I have been a victim of my own optimism.

— Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia)

Although, we dissmissed this book as American-bestseller-chick-lit-crap at first, we soon came to appreciate its greatness, if not that of Miss Gilbert herself. One of the girls found it a suiting topic for a wintertime tea break, and as most things concerning optimism and romance, in our world it is timeless.

Another favorite from Craig's List. Someone who quite clearly disagrees with Goethe's saying that "a master first shows himself in self-limitation". Then again, if you know what you're looking for you might as well just spell it out.

Are you the one? (East Harlem)

You have the most beautiful smile... your shyness makes you lift your hand to your face. You wake me up with a kiss and we make love. You think I'm addicted to coffee. You love my hands; hold them all the time. you always play with my hair. You look great in dark colors. Especially blue and Black. you very intelligent. and passionate about what you do ..and when something happens or that your excited about you ramble like a mad man .. you love listening to me. You love rainy days as much as I do.. like to stand out and smell the rain. You like to play music and grabbing me to dance with you. You love being comfortable in your jeans and t-shirt.. just watching a movie or some type of documentary ..which I might find extremely boring. We kiss all the time.. you’re so passionate. You like to make love in the most unusual places.. you love the fact that I have no problem with that. You snore... but i like it. You motivate me to be a better person.. you inspire me to be creative. You are not afraid to cry. You love my friends. they love you too. We enjoy Sat morning cartoons and cereal. Your always teaching me something new. You calm me when I’m angry ..we can never stay mad at each other for too long. You have a job you love doing. You wake me up early because you think we should go somewhere.. I love that your spontaneous. You drive me crazy when you leave the paper everywhere. You have the most dreamy eyes.. and you moan when we kiss deeply. You love to travel. You always remember the important dates. You like to stay in shape.. which inspires me to do the same. You like my cooking. You like watching "heroes" with me. You are always cuddling with me. You’re not a quitter. You were not afraid to tell me you had fallen in love with me very early after we met. I love your mouth. Your hard working.. serious ..determined. Don't believe in bullshitting. Your goofy and your sense of humor is as twisted as mine. You call me up to say I love you when I least expect it. You love Italian food! You sing at me even though it's so painful..loll I love the way you smell. You love watching live concerts at the park. Your nice sexy womanly voice drives me nuts. You like that I’m black, you think it’s hot.
In case you were wondering...
I recycle
I put the toilet seat down...
I am from Africa
I Got a fun job
I like movies
I love to cook
I am compassionate
my friends love me
I speak more than one language
I travelled to every continent on the planet except Antarctica
I love to explore
I am very rarely sick
I love meeting people
I am not afraid to commit
I am very organized
I love making lists
I am generous
I am not racially prejudiced
I eat spicy food
I love beaches and mountain
I try to save the planet every day
I take a shower every day, even twice a day
I never beat a women
I don't snore (much)
I will always answer honestly, if you ask me
I have no drama
I will laugh at every joke, even when it is not funny
I eat vegetarian
I don't litter
I look both ways before I cross the street
I wash my hands when I get home
It gets better every time
I am handsome, and funny
I like laughing about myself
I stop and ask for directions
I try not to pick my nose or butt in public
I like Frank Zappa
I can stay up all night and talk about Life, the Universe and Everything
I believe in honesty and trust
I know you’re out there... I know you have felt the same. I have been thinking of you ..missing you..wanting you. Please find me...


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PostingID: 1500520045

In an A-Z guide to relationships in Sweden, an American puts it down rather nicely. It goes a bit like this;

A) Meet at a mutual friend's party.

B) Get really, really drunk.

C) Make out. Sex is optional.

/.../

K) Repeat Step A.

L) Repeat Step B.

M) Repeat Step C, all the while pretending it never happened the first time.

The article is titled Dating in Sweden, which is quite misleading. We do not know of anybody who dates anyone in Stockholm, although, we have heard of a few that are into repetition.