Won't you be my valentine?

Happy Valentine's Day to every one of you from Think Classic!

Since I'm sure most of you have more important things to do, and you have to get ready for hot dates tonight (whether with another human being or Netflix,we don't judge) we'll keep this vintage valentine short, but we had to do something to acknowledge the day of love!

How about some fun Valentine's Day facts?

Did you know:

-Valentines date back to 270 A.D.

-In the Middle Ages, young people would draw names to see who their valentine was. They would then pin the name to their sleeve and wear it there for a week.

-Red roses are connected with love and Valentine's Day because they were supposedly the favorite flower of Venus, who was the Roman goddess of love.

-Valentine's Day is only celebrated in 8 countries: Canada, Mexico, UK, Australia, Denmark, Italy, the USA, and France (naturally).

-19th century doctors used to actually prescribe the eating of chocolate to patients who were sad or melancholy.

-The first country where sending paper valentine hearts or cards became immensely popular was in England, during the Victorian era (which is also when/where Christmas cards came into fashion).

-Before mass production of valentines became feasible and popular, people would spend money to buy fancy and expensive handmade valentines of real lace and ribbon.

And now, a couple of classic love poems to get you in the mood:

"The fountains mingle with the river

And the rivers with the ocean,

The winds of Heaven mix for ever

With a sweet emotion;

Nothing in the world is single,

All things by a law divine

In one spirit meet and mingle--

Why not I with thine?

See the mountains kiss high Heaven

And the waves clasp one another;

No sister-flower would be forgiven

If it disdained its brother;

And the sunlight clasps the earth,

And the moonbeams kiss the sea--

What are all these kissings worth

If thou kiss not me?"

Love's Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley

"My true love hath my heart, and I have his,

By just exchange one for the other given:

I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss;

There never was a bargain better driven.

His heart in me keeps me and him in one,

My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides;

He loves my heart for once it was his own;

I cherish his because in me it bides.

His heart his wound received from my sight;

My heart was wounded with his wounded heart;

For as from me on him his hurt did light,

So still methought in me his hurt did smart:

Both equal hurt, in this change sought our bliss,

My true love hath my heart and I have his."

My True-Love Hath My Heart by Sir Philip Sidney

If you do happen to be spending the evening in, whether by yourself or with a significant other, why not make it a double date with Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable? Catch Gone With the Wind (1939) tonight on TCM starting at 8pm ET.

"Kisses are a better fate than wisdom."

-e.e. cummings

"All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt."

-Charles M. Schulz

"Who, being loved, is poor?"

-Oscar Wilde

"Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs."

-William Shakespeare

"We're all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutual satisfying weirdness--and call it love--true love."

-Robert Fulghum