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bustle.com

13 Inspirational Quotes
To Help Change Your Perspective On Dating
Lea Rose Emery
6 — 7 minut

Whether you've been on the dating-go-round for a month or for years, it can
be easy to get into a dating rut. You start to feel like there's nobody out there
for you or that you just can't handle another bad date. But once you get into
this mindset, it can really hold you back.

“If someone has a negative attitude people can sense it from a mile away and
most people do not want to be around it,” life coach and author, Sarah E.
Stewart, MSW, CPC, tells Bustle. “It is important to be positive even if you
are on your one hundredth bad date.”

If you find yourself feeling negative about your love life, it's important to find
a way to change your perspective. That might mean taking a big step back
and taking a break from dating altogether — and that's OK. But maybe you
don't need a total break — you just need a little attitude shift.

If you feel like you need a change in perspective, here are some quotes on
love, relationships, and being single that can help you reframe the way you
look at dating.
1“Don't let society fool you into believing that if you don't have a girlfriend or
boyfriend then you're destined for a life of misery. The Dalai Lama has been
single for the last 80 years and he is one of the happiest people on earth.
Stop searching for happiness in places outside of yourself, and start finding
it where it has always been: within you.” - Miya Yamanouchi
Hannah Burton/Bustle

Work on yourself, on being happy single, on making a life for yourself —

because that's the most important foundation, whether you want a
relationship or not.
2"Truth is everybody is going to hurt you: you just gotta find the ones worth
suffering for." - Bob Marley
Hannah Burton/Bustle

I'm not going to argue with Bob Marley. Although this sounds depressing, it's
actually just an important reminder that nobody's perfect — everyone you
meet is going to have flaws and make mistakes but, with some people, it will
be worth it.
3“Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you. You must travel it by
yourself. It is not far. It is within reach. Perhaps you have been on it since
you were born, and did not know. Perhaps it is everywhere — on water and
land.” - Walt Witman
Andrew Zaeh for Bustle
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You can't expect anyone else to make your life complete or to make you
ready to meet someone — you have to do the work.
4“I didn’t lose you, you lost me. You’ll search for me inside of everyone you’re
with and I won’t be found." - Anonymous
Andrew Zaeh for Bustle

If you feel like you keep being left behind — or you're struggling to get over a
bad breakup — try looking at it from the other angle: they don't get to be
with you anymore.
5“On the day when it will be possible for woman to love not in her weakness
but in her strength, not to escape herself but to find herself, not to abase
herself but to assert herself — on that day love will become for her, as for
man, a source of life and not of mortal danger.” - Simone de Beauvoir
Andrew Zaeh for Bustle

You can't go wrong with a little Simone de Beauvoir. Just a reminder that we
run the world and should approach our dating lives as such.
6“If you truly want to be respected by people you love, you must prove to
them that you can survive without them.” - Michael Bassey Johnson
Hannah Burton/Bustle

Live your best life. Every step of the way.

7“A 'perfect relationship' is just two imperfect people who refuse to give up
on each other." - Anonymous
Andrew Zaeh for Bustle

You've got quirks, flaws, and mistakes under your belt — but you'll find
someone else who does too, if you're both willing to put the work in.
8"I have my own high standards for what I want in a partner and how I want
to be treated. I bring a lot to the table. I'm not talking about material things
but what I have to offer as a person — love and loyalty and all the things
that make a good relationship." - Jennifer Lopez
Ashley Batz/Bustle

If Jennifer Lopez tells you to have high standards then it's time to have high
standards. The end.
9"People change and forget to tell each other." - Lillian Hellman
Ashley Batz/Bustle

If you're mourning past relationships, this quote is a gut-wrenching

reminder that sometimes it's not meant to be — or if it was for a while, that
doesn't mean it should last forever.
10"We need to accept that we won't always make the right decisions. That
we'll screw up royally sometimes." - Arianna Huffington
Hannah Burton/Bustle

Let yourself off of the hook. So many of us sabotage our own dating lives by
berating ourselves for a million mistakes. Let it go.
11"Smile, for everyone lacks self-confidence and more than any other one
thing a smile reassures them." - Andre Maurois
Andrew Zaeh for Bustle
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If you find every date nerve-wracking, this quote shines a light on those
dates from the other side. Everybody gets nervous, they need reassurance as
much as you do, so cut them some slack and try to inject some compassion
into the situation.
12"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something
else is the greatest accomplishment." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ashley Batz/Bustle

You don't need to settle — you can keep being yourself and wanting what
you want. Don't give into the pressure.
13“There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.” - Leonard
Cohen
Hannah Burton/Bustle

Finally, a little Leonard Cohen to remind you that no matter how bleak it
seems, there's always some way to find the light.

If you get into a dating funk, that attitude can bring you down. So take a
step back and as much time as you need to reframe the way you approach
your dating life. Because sometimes, perspective is everything.