"You don't have to say I love you to say I love you," you said with a shrug. "All you have to do is say my name and I know."

..."Can't you hear it?" you said. "When you love someone, you say their name different. Like it's safe inside your mouth."

When someone loves you, the way they talk about you is different. You feel safe and comfortable.

I know well enough how people in love drag the name of the loved one into every conversation, simply to utter that magical word, to savor it on the tongue.

You can use your mouth to speak the words I love you, or you can use your mouth to kiss me and transport love from your mind to my heart.

Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.

The way you give your name to others is a measure of how much you like and
respect yourself.

Love is a special word, and I use it only when I mean it. You say the word too much and it becomes cheap.

You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free.

She loved him so much she concealed his name in many phrases, the inner meanings known only to her.

"How different things might be if, rather than saying "I think I'm in love," we were saying "I've connected with someone in a way that makes me think I'm on the way to knowing love." Or if instead of saying "I am in love" we say "I am loving" or "I will love." Our patterns around romantic love are unlikely to change if we do not change our language."

I liked my name pronounced by your lips in a grateful, happy accent.

But there is one key ingredient that my wife has helped me to recognize over the years, and that is the importance of articulating love for one another on a daily basis. The words I love you, spoken in acknowledgment in the morning upon rising and before going to bed, or when sitting down to dine, make the most beautiful music recognized by human ears.

Love and trust, in the space between what’s said and what’s heard in our life, can make all the difference in the world.

When you love someone you let them take care of you.