Books

17 Book Quotes For Your Maid Of Honor Speech

by E. Ce Miller

So, your BFF and that fella (or whoever, because #LoveWins) you always knew would be perfect for her have finally decided to tie the knot — yay! Second only to your joy for your best gal pal and her forever love is your excitement about being asked to play the roll of maid of honor… except for one not-so-tiny thing, that is: the maid of honor speech. (Insert that brass “dun-dun-dunn” of dread you always hear in the movies — completely unrelated fun fact, it’s called a musical sting. But I digress.)

Being asked to accompany your best friend up the aisle on one of the biggest days of her life is a totally tear-jerking gesture, but having to write an entire speech that’ll do the big ol’ day justice can feel like a lot of pressure too; especially if the last time you gave a speech was somewhere around 7th grade debate class. But fear not — literature has already done some of the hardest work for you. There are tons of book quotes perfect for your maid of honor speech; and whether you’re looking for a totally romantic vibe, or more interested in reminding Mr. (or Ms.) Right no matter how in love she is, your BFF will still need you forever, these are book quotes perfect for your maid of honor toast.

Here are 17 quotes from literature for your maid of honor speech. Now all you have left to worry about is the color of that bridesmaid’s dress.

1. Love is the sum of our choices, the strength of our commitments, the ties that bind us together.

― Emily Giffin, Love the One You're With

2. Be brave. Be authentic. Practice saying the word ‘love’ to the people you love so when it matters most to say it, you will.

― Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things

3. I guess you can be yourself, whatever that means — the best and worst of you. And they love you anyway. You can fight, but even when you're mad at them, you know they're not going to stop being your friend.

― Jennifer Niven, All the Bright Places

4. "You know... The person you can call at two a.m. and, no matter what, you can count on them. Even if they're asleep or it's cold or you need to be bailed out of jail... they'll come for you. It's like, the highest level of friendship.”

― Sarah Dessen, What Happened to Goodbye

5. I no longer believed in the idea of soul mates or love at first sight. But I was beginning to believe that at very few times in your life, if you were lucky, you might meet someone who was exactly right for you. Not because he was perfect, or because you were, but because your combined flaws were arranged in a way that allowed two separate beings to hinge together.

― Lisa Kleypas, Blue-Eyed Devil

6. I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.

― John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

7. When you feel someone else's pain and joy as powerfully as if it were your own, then you know you really loved them.

― Ann Brashares, Girls In Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood

8. Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.

— J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Albus Dumbledore)

9. There is no happiness like that of being loved by your fellow creatures, and feeling that your presence is an addition to their comfort.

― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

10. I looked at them. And I think they knew. Not anything specific really. They just knew. And I think that's all you can ever ask from a friend.

― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

11. There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.

― Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

12. You could go through life and make new friends every year — every month practically — but there was never any substitute for those friendships of childhood that survive into adult years. Those are the ones in which we are bound to one another with hoops of steel.

― Alexander McCall Smith, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

13. Where does it all lead? What will become of us? These were our young questions, and young answers were revealed. It leads to each other. We become ourselves... “What will happen to us?” I asked. “There will always be us,” he answered.

― Patti Smith, Just Kids

14. Being in a relationship, that's something you choose. Being friends, that's just something you are. I do pick you. We've been friends too long to pick, but if we could pick, I'd pick you.

― John Green, Will Grayson, Will Grayson

15. You are protected, in short, by your ability to love!

— J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Albus Dumbledore)

16. Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering.

― Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

17. You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing.

― E.B. White, Charlotte's Web

Image: Ben Rosett, Josh Felise(2), Abo Ngalonkulu, Nick de Partee, Jordan Donaldson, Gabby Orcutt, Azrul Aziz/Unsplash