STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

hmmm....try going to www.americanrhetoric.com

it's like a database of speeches, most are political, but you might find something, or maybe even just reading them will help you feel inspired for your speech.

good luck!

 

this is my favorite quote ever about love -- from Harriet Beecher Stowe's The Minister's Wooing:

If ever you have had a romantic, uncalculating friendship,--a boundless
worship and belief in some hero of your soul,--if ever you have so
loved, that all cold prudence, all selfish worldly considerations have
gone down like drift-wood before a river flooded with new rain from
heaven, so that you even forgot yourself, and were ready to cast your
whole being into the chasm of existence, as an offering before the feet
of another, and all for nothing,--if you awoke bitterly betrayed and
deceived, still give thanks to God that you have had one glimpse of
heaven.

The door now shut will open again. Rejoice that the noblest
capability of your eternal inheritance has been made known to you;
treasure it, as the highest honor of your being, that ever you could so
feel,--that so divine a guest ever possessed your soul.

-- Edited by halleybird at 22:20, 2005-10-04

I have several short things that I love, they may not be long enough, but if you are giving a speech you may be able to work them in? I'm such a quote nerd that I had to share something!

Do you want me to tell you something really subversive? Love is everything
it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it. It
really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And
the trouble is, if you don't risk everything, you risk even more.
--Erica Jong

"I do not think that what is called Love at first sight is so great an
absurdity as it is sometimes imagined to be. We generally make up our
minds beforehand to the sort of person we should like, grave or gay,
black, brown, or fair; with golden tresses or raven locks; -- and when we
meet with a complete example of the qualities we admire, the bargain is
soon struck." - William Hazlitt 1778-1830, British Essayist

"The real act of marriage takes place in the heart, not in the ballroom or
church or synagogue. It's a choice you make -- not just on your wedding
day, but over and over again -- and that choice is reflected in the way
you treat your husband or wife." - Barbara De Angelis American Expert on
Relationship & Love, Author

And of course, there is always Carrie's poem that she wrote for that wedding in SITC

His hello was the end of her endings
Her laugh was their first step down the aisle
His hand would be hers to hold forever
His forever was as simple as her smile
He said she was what was missing
She said instantly she knew
She was a question to be answered
And his answer was "I do"



These probably don't count, but my husband would send me a love / marriage quote a day after we got engaged & these are my 2 favorites - gross & sappy I know, but stilll.....

"I dreamed of a wedding of elaborate elegance; a church filled with flowers and friends. I asked him what kind of wedding he wished for; he said one that would make me his wife." - Author Unknown

"I have great hopes that we shall love each other all our lives as much as
if we had never married at all." - Lord Byron 1788-1824, British Poet
(i actually had the end of this engraved in my husband's wedding ring)

Gosh I'm so mushy, sorry!!!!

Here are some that I like from the indie site:

From "First Poems," Rainer Maria Rilke

Understand, I'll slip quietly
Away from the noisy crowd
When I see the pale
Stars rising, blooming over the oaks.
I'll pursue solitary pathways
Through the pale twilit meadows,
With only this one dream:
You come too.

From "Letters" by Rainer Maria Rilke translated by Stephen Mitchell

Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest people infinite distances exist, a marvelous living side-by-side can grow up for them, if they succeed in loving the expanse between them, which gives them the possibility of always seeing each other as a whole and before an immense sky.

A description of marriage
Edmund O'Neill

Marriage is a promise of love.
It is a commitment to life – to the best two people can find to bring in each other.

Marriage offers opportunities for sharing and growth- a physical and emotional joining that is promised for a lifetime.

Within the circle of its love, marriage encompasses all of life's most important relationships. A wife and a husband are each other's best friend, confidant, lover, teacher, listener and critic.

Marriage deepens and enriches every fact of life. Happiness is fuller, memories are fresher, commitment is stronger. Even anger is felt more strongly, but passes more quickly.

Marriage understands and forgives the mistakes life is unable to avoid. It encourages and nurtures new life. When two people pledge to love and care for each other in marriage, they create a spirit unique in themselves which binds them closer then any spoken or written words.

Marriage is a promise. A potential, made in the hearts of two people who love, which takes a lifetime to fulfil.

The Invitation, by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.

I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your hearts longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking a fool for love,
for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are square in your moon.

I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow,
if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed down from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving, to hide it, fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true.

I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true yourself;
if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day, and if you can source your life on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the moon in God’s presence.

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know, or how you came here.

I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied.

I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in empty moments.

The Wild Rose

Sometimes hidden from me
in daily custom and in trust,
so that I live by you unaware
as by the beating of my heart,

Suddenly you flare in my sight,
a wild rose blooming at the edge
of thicket, grace and light
where yesterday was only shade,
and once again I am blessed, choosing
again what I chose before.

--Wendell Berry

 

Maddie wrote:

---

If you're talking poems too, this is kind of cliche, but I LOVE it... i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling) i fear not fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true) and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart) -e. e. cummunings

---

Yes - I read this one and isn't it sweet? I sent it to my friend in my growing list of potentials...

Here are some more I found:

Ha! This one is funny:
 
Litany
-Billy Collins
You are the bread and the knife,
The crystal goblet and the wine...
-Jacques Crickillon

You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker,
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.

It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.

And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.

It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.

I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.
I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman's tea cup.

But don't worry, I'm not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and--somehow--the wine.
from Nine Horses
 
Today
--Billy Collins
If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.

from Nine Horses

To a Stranger
-Walt Whitman
------------------------------------------------------------ ----
Passing stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you,
You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me
as of a dream,)
I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,
All is recall'd as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate,
chaste, matured,
You grew up with me, were a boy with me or a girl with me,
I ate with you and slept with you, your body has become not yours
only nor left my body mine only,
You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass, you
take of my beard, breast, hands, in return,
I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone or
wake at night alone,
I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again,
I am to see to it that I do not lose you.
 
What is a friend?

What is a friend? I will tell you. It is a person with whom you dare to be yourself. Your soul can be naked with them. They seem to ask of you to put on nothing, only to be what you are. They do not want you to be better or worse. When you are with them, you feel as a prisoner feels who has been declared innocent. You do not have to be on your guard, you can say what you think, so long as it is genuinely you. They understand those contradictions in your nature that lead others to misjudge you. With a friend, you breathe freely. You can avow your little vanities and envies and hates and vicious sparks, your meanness, and absurdities and (in opening them up) they are lost dissolves on the white ocean of their loyalty. A friend understands. You do not have to be careful. You can abuse them, neglect them, tolerate them. Best of all, you can keep still with them. It makes no matter. They like you. They are like fire that purges to the bone. They understand. You can weep with them, sing with them, laugh with them, pray with them. Through it all and underneath they see, know, and love you.

A friend? What is a friend? Just one, I repeat, with whom you dare to be yourself.

 
A Passage by Reverend Paul L'Herrou

If your love is to grow and deepen,

You must find a way to move with each other,

Perhaps in a slow and graceful dance (bare feet firmly to the ground),

A dance that circles and tests and learns as it gradually moves closer

To that place where you can each pass through the other

And turn and embrace without breaking or losing any part of yourselves

But only to learn more of who you each are by your touching,

To find that you are each whole and indivdual and separate

Yet, in the same instant, one, joined as whole

That does not blur the two individuals as you dance.

The music is there if you will listen hard,

Through the static and noise of life, and other tunes that fill your heads.

You are here, marking time to the music.

The dance can only begin if you will take the first (and hardest)

Tentative, uncertain, stumbling steps.
 
 
Teehee - this one is just for laughs.
 
from the movie "Frida"


"I don't believe in marriage. Let me be clear about that.

I think at worst, it is a hostile political act. A way for small minded men to keep their women in the house and out of the way, wrapped in the guise of conservative religious nonsense.

At best, it is a happy delusion: it is two people who really love each other, who have no idea how truly miserable they are about to make each other.

But! When two people know that and they decide, with eyes wide open, to face each other and get married anyway...

I don't think its conservative or delusional. I think it's radical. And courageous. And very romantic."

 
This one gave me goose bumps:
 
Love by Roy Croft
 
I love you,
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you.

I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what
You are making of me.

I love you
For the part of me
That you bring out;

I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can't help
Dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out
Into the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find.

I love you because you
Are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life
Not a tavern
But a temple;
Out of the works
Of my every day
Not a reproach
But a song.

I love you
Because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done
To make me good
And more than any fate
Could have done
To make me happy.
You have done it
Without a touch,
Without a word,
Without a sign.
You have done it
By being yourself.

 
Cute and funny although maybe not appropriate:
 
I Wrote a Good Omelet

I wrote a good omelet...and ate a hot poem...
after loving you

Buttoned my car...and drove my coat home...in the rain...
after loving you

I goed on red...and stopped on green...floating
somewhere in between...
being here and being there
after loving you

I rolled my bed...turned down my hair...slightly
confused but...I don't care...
Laid out my teeth...and gargled my gown...then I stood
...and laid me down...
to sleep...
after loving you

MissMee wrote:

---

"You Were Born Together", by Kahlil Gibran "You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God. But let there be spades in your togetherness. And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love. Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each of you be alone, even as the strings of the lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the land of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together, yet not too near together, for the pillars of the temple stand apart, and the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow." ***********************************  

---

I dig this one. Very cool.

laken1 wrote:

---

WOW - I love lots of these, but The Invitation is my favorite. Good advice / adage in general i think.

---

I agree. Maybe I'll do something with that one for my toast...

Isn't this one hilarious though? I'm soooo tempted!

Locating Crickets by Joel Chamra
 
If you want a piece of me,
you get the piece...

with syphillis!

Because the hand of fate
has been donw my pants before.
It turned all of my questions
Into
ONE
BIG
!

And with bic flicking quickness,
fate and karma tag-teamed me
and the result
was an assault
on the psyche.

Then you came along
and started to use words like forever.
That's a mighty long time,
So I'm here to tell that there is something else...
the rest of this poem.

So meet the rest of me,
the lost episodes of my life.
The b-sides
The bee stings
The white lies
The O-rings
The dusty skeletons that complete my
Fill in the ________ life.

1. I always had a thumb print on my skull.
It happened when the soft spot of my head
had not yet developed
and my uncle was depressed
that he had never left his mark.

2. I didn't walk until I was 3,
but only because I was reeeeeeeeeally lazy.

3. My father has always been a riot
and my mother...teargas.
They make wonderful chaos together.

4. I once attempted to access a parallel universe
by drawing a triangle on the ground,
then entering it while wearing Bermuda shorts.

5. Ran away from home when I was 12
simply so I could label myself.

6. Returned home hours later
so I could say that I accomplished something.

7. I wore short shorts.

8. Throught my school years, I was very driven.
This mostly because I didn't have my own car.

9. I have never spent money on sex...
boy have I paid for it.

10. I have been in love exactly one other time.
I didn't love her the way the desert misses the rain.
I loved her the way the rain embraces acid.

11. Now that I am in love with YOU
it is necessary for me to create a word that means more than
love
so I can accurately express myself.
I have come up with SPLEET.

12. Sometimes I wish that I could stare at you
against the backdrop of an eclipse...
so that when I go blind,
yr image burns into my mind
and I can carry it with me wherever I go.

13. I hate lists.
So take my hand
and I will spleet you
as long as humanly possible.

laken1 wrote:

---

OMG - that is so funny / cool / sweet (?)!!! If they are as "non-traditional" as you say, you should do that - i think it fits your personality as well! How cool.

---

haha! I can only imagine what her parents would say! I laugh out loud everytime I read this one. If they don't use it for their ceremony, I think I'll insist it gets used in mine (if I ever have one!!!).

here are some I'm considering having printed in our programs...

Love is More Thicker Than Forget : e e cummings     

love is more thicker than forget

more thinner than recall

more seldom than a wave is wet

more frequent than to fail

 

it is most mad and moonly

and less it shall unbe

than all the sea which only

is deeper than the sea

 

love is less always than to win

less never than alive

less bigger than the least begin

less littler than forgive

 

it is more sane and sunly

and more it cannot die

than all the sky which only

is higher than the sky

 

i love you much(most beautiful darling)    by:e e cummings

i love you much(most beautiful darling)

 

more than anyone on the earth and i

like you better than everything in the sky

 

-sunlight and singing welcome your coming

 

although winter may be everywhere

with such a silence and such a darkness

noone can quite begin to guess

 

(except my life)the true time of year-

 

and if what calls itself a world should have

the luck to hear such singing(or glimpse such

sunlight as will leap higher than high

through gayer than gayest someone's heart at your each

 

nearness)everyone certainly would(my

most beautiful darling)believe in nothing but love

 

"Admonitions to a Special Person" by Anne Sexton

 Love? Be it man. Be it woman.

It must be a wave you want to glide in on,

give your body to it, give your laugh to it,

give, when the gravelly sand takes you,

your tears to the land. To love another is something

like prayer and can't be planned, you just fall

into its arms because your belief undoes your disbelief.

 

 

A Birthday, by Christina Rossetti

My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a water'd shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
My heart is gladder than all these,
Because my love is come to me.

Raise me a daïs of silk and down;
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves and pomegranates,
And peacocks with a hundred eyes;
Work it in gold and silver grapes,
In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.

 

“To My Valentine” by Ogden Nash
More than a catbird hates a cat,
Or a criminal hates a clue,
Or the Axis hates the United States,
That's how much I love you.

I love you more than a duck can swim,
And more than a grapefruit squirts,
I love you more than a gin rummy is a bore,
And more than a toothache hurts.

As a shipwrecked sailor hates the sea,
Or a juggler hates a shove,
As a hostess detests unexpected guests,
That's how much you I love.

I love you more than a wasp can sting,
And more than the subway jerks,
I love you as much as a beggar needs a crutch,
And more than a hangnail irks.

I swear to you by the stars above,
And below, if such there be,
As the High Court loathes perjurious oathes,
That's how you're loved by me.

 -- Edited by Starstuff at 17:41, 2005-10-05 for space issues

-- Edited by Starstuff at 17:43, 2005-10-05