A Guide to Valentine's Day Greetings

To use a sports cliché: Writing a Valentine’s Day card message can be a tough place to play.

One of my ex-boyfriends proved that when he signed his with “Smiles, Johnny” (name changed to protect the clueless).

Smiles?

Yes, “Smiles.”

And as any lady will tell you: That just doesn’t cut it.

So as a quote and poetry fanatic, I decided to help you gentlemen out with your cards this year. Below are some suggestions for you when you take a pen to Hallmark card this Valentine’s Day:

If She Loves Poetry

While there are many quotes out there for the poets among us, I recommend this one, which I rediscovered while going though old notebooks from college. I liked it just as much the second time around:

“I do not mind one day lying in a field, or being precisely placed between two stars. It is the not being with you that would force my heart to beat forever.” –Paul Verechak

If that’s a little too mushy, I offer up one of my favorites from the legendary EE Cummings. Here goes:

“Since feeling is first who pays any attention to the syntax of things will never wholly kiss you; wholly to be a fool while Spring is in the world my blood approves, and kisses are a far better fate than wisdom. Lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry—the best gesture of my brain is less than your eyelids' flutter which says we are for each other: then laugh, leaning back in my arms for life's not a paragraph. And death i think is no parenthesis.”

If She’s Just a Friend

If you don’t want to get too lovey dovey on one of your female friends, consider one of these two quotes:

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.” -Charles M. Schulz

If she has a sicker sense of humor, she might like this one (I do, and I do):

“A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.” –Bernard Meltzer

If She’s a Hopeless Romantic

If she loves chick flicks and cries at romantic comedies, you can’t go wrong with this quote from The Notebook.

“I love you. I am who I am because of you. You are every reason, every hope, and every dream I've ever had, and no matter what happens to us in the future, everyday we are together is the greatest day of my life. I will always be yours.”
-Nicholas Sparks

Or there's this one from Oscar Wilde—one of my all-time favorites:

“There was so much in you that charmed me that I felt I must tell you something about yourself. I thought how tragic it would be if you were wasted."

Or this one from my man Ralph Waldo Emerson:

"If I love you, what is that to you? We say so because we feel that what we love is not in your will but above it. It is not you, but your radiance. It is that which you know not in yourself and can never know."

If You're Trying to Get Her Back

It wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day is somebody, somewhere wasn’t trying to get someone they love back. If you think she’s the gal you might later regrettably refer to as “the one who got away” then maybe this quote would be the one that gets the point across:

"Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell." -Edna St. Vincent Millay

I hope that helps.

But then again: Most parting words are better than "Smiles."

Good luck and God speed, gentlemen of and beyond!

What's your favorite quote about love and relationships? Tell us in the comments!