The Most Romantic Stories Ever Written

Most of us haven’t thumbed through our copies of Anna Karenina or Pride and Prejudice since high school English. However, these books are not only works of art, but they are also enduring testaments to the human heart and rich with beautiful quotes about love and romance. These could be considered among the top-twelve most romantic lines from classic lit: 

Wealthy Mr. Darcy fights hard against his feelings for Elizabeth Bennet, but finally he confesses his love to her, saying:

“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”

The classic love story between tortured Heathcliff and fiery Cathy Earnshaw contains these romantic lines in which Cathy tells her maid how deeply she feels about him:

“If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger…”

This tells the love story between meek Jane Eyre and her seemingly cruel boss, Mr. Rochester. After much miscommunication and hurt feelings, he finally confesses his true feelings to her:

“I have little left in myself — I must have you. The world may laugh —may call me absurd, selfish — but it does not signify. My very soul demands you: it will be satisfied, or it will take deadly vengeance on its frame.”

The story of the Brangwen sisters, Gudrun and Ursula, and the men who touch their hearts contains this romantic line uttered by Ursula’s lover Birkin:

“I want us to be together without bothering about ourselves — to be really together because we are together, as if it were a phenomenon, not a thing we have to maintain by our own effort.”

The beloved author tells the story of orphan Pip as he grows into a man and falls in love with the beautiful (and often cruel) Estella. Here Estella’s guardian, the vengeful Miss Havisham, urges Pip not to give up on her ward, saying:

“Love her, love her, love her! If she favours you, love her. If she wounds you, love her. If she tears your heart to pieces — and as it gets older and stronger, it will tear deeper — love her, love her, love her!”

This is a tale of an affair between a married woman (Anna Karenina) and her lover, Vronsky. Here are Vronsky’s thoughts on the overture of family and friends to keep him and Anna apart:

“They've got no idea what happiness is, they don't know that without this love there is no happiness or unhappiness for us — there is no life.” 

This novel focuses on the romance between an American lieutenant named Frederic Henry serving in World War I and the nurse he falls in love with. Here a priest explains to the lieutenant his definition of love:

“When you love you wish to do things for. You wish to sacrifice for. You wish to serve.”

The story follows the once penniless Mr. Gatsby, who is now a wealthy gentleman who’s earned a fortune and spent years trying to impress fickle Daisy Buchanan, often to no avail. Here the narrator steps in Gatsby’s mind as he imagines kissing his dream girl:

“He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God.”

The story centers on the charming yet meddlesome matchmaker Emma and her own eventual love story with Mr. Knightley. Here he stumbles over his confession of love to her, saying:

“I cannot make speeches, Emma…If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.” 

The troubled love story revolves around rich Newland Archer and Countess Ellen Olenska. He is engaged to marry the countess’s cousin, so their love story seems doomed. As they discuss the necessary end of the relationship, the countess reveals the joy their relationship has given her, saying:

“I shan't be lonely now. I was lonely; I was afraid. But the emptiness and the darkness are gone; when I turn back into myself now I'm like a child going at night into a room where there's always a light.”

Anne Shirley is the dreamy and romantic redhead who steals the heart of handsome Gilbert Blythe. However, she resists his advances because she is waiting for a romance that is more sensational and storybook-like. After years of devoted friendship, Anne realizes she has been in love with Gilbert the whole time and notes:

“Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one’s life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one’s side like an old friend through quiet ways; perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose, until some sudden shaft of illumination flung athwart its pages betrayed the rhythm and the music; perhaps . . . perhaps . . . love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath.”

This beloved book tell the story of the March sisters as they explore life and love in the early 1900s. Each of the sisters has their own dynamic personality, and as they search for love and happiness, they often encounter misadventure and sometimes disappointment along the way. The youngest, Amy, gives her older sisters sage advice as they hectically prepare for a dance, admonishing:

"You don’t need scores of suitors. You need only one, if he is the right one."