Loving someone you can’t have is one of the hardest feelings to bear. It’s a silent ache that gnaws at your heart, often without anyone else knowing. The unspoken words, the hidden glances, and the dreams that may never come true weigh heavy.
In moments like these, quotes from others who have felt the same way can offer comfort. They remind us that we’re not alone in our struggles. Each quote can be a small beacon of light in an otherwise dark and lonely place.
Heartfelt Quotes on Unrequited Love
“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.” – Hermann Hesse
“The hardest thing is to hurt yourself for the sake of others’ happiness.” – Unknown
“To burn with desire and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring on ourselves.” – Federico García Lorca
“we only regret the chances we didn’t take, the relationships we were afraid to have, and the decisions we waited too long to make.” – Lewis Carroll
“Perhaps, someday, I’ll meet someone who understands the kind of love that doesn’t ask for anything in return.” – Unknown
“I have to respect her absence because her presence wasn’t appreciated.” – R.H. Sin
“Love that we cannot have is the one that lasts the longest, hurts the deepest, and feels the strongest.” – Unknown
“And it hurts you more than you’d ever think possible, the kind of pain that can only come from someone you’ve never truly had.” – Unknown
“You can close your eyes to the things you don’t want to see, but you can’t close your heart to the things you don’t want to feel.” – Johnny Depp
“Unrequited love does not die; it’s only beaten down to a secret place where it hides, curled and wounded.” – Elle Newmark
“Loving you was like going to war; I never came back the same.” – Warsan Shire
“It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” – Alfred Lord Tennyson
“I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul.” – Pablo Neruda
“Sometimes the best way to get someone’s attention is to stop giving them yours.” – Unknown
“Why do we always want what we can’t have?” – Unknown
“The worst feeling isn’t being lonely, it’s being forgotten by someone you could never forget.” – Unknown
“If you love someone, set them free. If they come back, they’re yours; if they don’t, they never were.” – Richard Bach
“Because waiting for you is like waiting for rain in a drought; useless and disappointing.” – ‘A Cinderella Story’
Inspiring Quotes About Loving from a Distance
“Distance means so little when someone means so much.” – Tom McNeal
“The heart may be a lonely hunter, but it’s a stubborn survivor.” – Carson McCullers
“Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it.” – Thomas Fuller
“Across the miles, you live in me; close in my heart are you.” – Claudette Glaude
“Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.” – Kahlil Gibran
“The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.” – Charles Dickens
“In true love, the smallest distance is too great, and the greatest distance can be bridged.” – Hands Nouwens
“The simple lack of her is more to me than others’ presence.” – Edward Thomas
“Our lives were now worlds apart, separated by time, circumstance, and the unbridgeable chasm of money.” – Travis Luedke
“The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected.” – Nicholas Sparks
“True love is not about being inseparable; it is about two people being true to each other even when they are separated.” – Anonymous
“Distance between two hearts is not an obstacle; rather, a beautiful reminder of just how strong true love can be.” – Unknown
“The thought of being with you tomorrow gives me the strength to go on today.” – Anonymous
“Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering.” – Paulo Coelho
“No matter where I go, what I do, or how I feel, you are always in my heart.” – Unknown
“When your absence is felt, your presence is the essence and it makes a difference.” – Michael Bassey Johnson
“Sometimes the people who are thousands of miles away from you can make you feel better than the ones right beside you.” – Unknown
“Distance never separates two hearts that really care, for our memories span the miles and in seconds we are there.” – Unknown
“The miles between us are only but a number because you reside deep in my heart.” – Anonymous
Deep Quotes on One-Sided Love
“The heart was made to be broken.” – Oscar Wilde
“The greatest torture is knowing you can’t be with someone you long for.” – unknown
“You can close your eyes to the things you don’t want to see, but you can’t close your heart to the things you don’t want to feel.” – Johnny Depp
“The worst way to miss someone is when they are right beside you and yet you know you can never have them.” – Gabriel García Márquez
“To want and not to have, sends the mind and heart into a helpless frenzy.” – Sylvia Plath
“She had so much love to give but no one to share it with.” – unknown
“Sometimes, the person you want most is the person you’re best without.” – unknown
“I have to admit, an unrequited love is so much better than a real one. I mean, it’s perfect.” – Sarah Dessen
“Love unreturned is still love.” – Neil Gaiman
“You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I’m grateful.” – John Green
“One can be in love with someone and still be alone.” – Alice Walker
“Loving you is like trying to touch a star. I know I can never reach you, but I can’t help but try.” – unknown
“In the arithmetic of love, one plus one equals everything, and two minus one equals nothing.” – Mignon McLaughlin
“It’s hard to forget someone who gave you so much to remember.” – unknown
“There is nothing so mortifying as to fall in love with someone who does not share one’s sentiments.” – Georgette Heyer
“Unrequited love does not die; it’s only beaten down to a secret place where it hides, curled and wounded.” – Elle Newmark
“You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.” – Barbara De Angelis
“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.” – Hermann Hesse
“Even though you were never mine to lose, it still hurts to let you go.” – unknown
Profound Quotes About Loving Someone Unattainable
“The heart wants what it wants. There’s no logic to these things. You meet someone and you fall in love, and that’s that.” – Woody Allen
“It’s hard to accept the feeling that a person you love can never be yours, but it’s even harder to move on from that feeling.” – Unknown
“Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell.” – Joan Crawford
“Sometimes the one you want is not the one you’re meant to be with.” – Unknown
“In the flush of love’s light, we dare be brave. And suddenly we see that love costs all we are, and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free.” – Maya Angelou
“So close, no matter how far. Couldn’t be much more from the heart.” – Metallica
“My heart is a puzzle that your love could never solve.” – Original
“The saddest thing in the world is loving someone who used to love you.” – Anonymous
“To love someone who’s unattainable is to pluck a rose knowing that you’ll be pricked by its thorn, yet willingly embracing the pain.” – Original
“I desire the things which will destroy me in the end.” – Sylvia Plath
“The pain of longing for someone you can never have is the love that remains unspoken.” – Original
“Love is not finding someone to live with; it’s finding someone you can’t live without.” – Rafael Ortiz
“The flame of love is now just a memory – but a memory that lights the darkness for me.” – Willa Cather
“I am not yours, nor lost in you, not lost, although I long to be.” – Sara Teasdale
“The love you can’t have lasts the longest, feels the strongest, and hurts the most.” – Unknown
“She was a bright flower in the garden of my dreams, too beautiful for me to touch.” – Original
“You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.” – Barbara De Angelis
“It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them.” – Agatha Christie
Meaningful Quotes on Love That Cant Be Returned
“The saddest thing in the world is loving someone who used to love you.” – Unknown
“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.” – Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
“Love is so short, forgetting is so long.” – Pablo Neruda
“You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.” – Barbara De Angelis
“To love someone who does not love you is like shaking a tree to make the dew drops fall.” – African proverb
“Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.” – William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
“Some people are meant to fall in love with each other, but not meant to be together.” – Scott Neustadter, 500 Days of Summer
“Loving someone that doesn’t love you is like reaching for a star. You know you’ll never reach it, but you just gotta keep trying.” – Unknown
“The worst way to miss someone is to be sitting right beside them knowing you can’t have them.” – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
“Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.” – Bertrand Russell
“There is a time for departure, even when there’s no certain place to go.” – Tennessee Williams
“To burn with desire and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring on ourselves.” – Federico Garcia Lorca
“If you love and get hurt, love more. If you love more and hurt more, love even more. If you love even more and get hurt even more, love some more until it hurts no more.” – William Shakespeare
“Unrequited love does not die; it’s only beaten down to a secret place where it hides, curled and wounded.” – Elle Newmark
“There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
“I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.” – Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
“One of the most difficult tasks in life is removing someone from your heart.” – Unknown
“The greatest tragedy of life is not that men perish, but that they cease to love.” – W. Somerset Maugham
The Conclusion
Loving someone you can’t have is a feeling many people experience. Quotes about this emotional struggle can provide comfort, understanding, and a sense of connection. They remind us that others have faced similar heartache and found ways to express it beautifully.
These quotes serve not just as words, but as small pieces of wisdom. They may help ease the pain or offer a new perspective. So, keep them close, share them with friends, or reflect on them during tough times. Sometimes, knowing you’re not alone makes all the difference.