These 15 Quotes About Breakups & Heartache From Latinx Writers Are Too Real

When you're going through a breakup, there are a few things you can usually depend on to make you feel better: songs by Adele, shows by Amy Sherman-Palladino, and everything created by Ben & Jerry. Though your first instinct when getting over an ex may not be to read a book, authors and poets have a way of mending broken hearts, too. In honor of Latinx Heritage month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, I've rounded up some quotes about breakups and heartache from Latinx writers that will likely make you think, feel, and maybe even heal.

Great writers can put into the words the emotions you're feeling but maybe aren't sure how to express. And even if authors and poets cannot take away your pain, it usually helps to know you aren't alone in your hurting. Healing isn't linear, and books that deal with heartache get that. Maybe your wounds are still fresh. Perhaps you're feeling like you're almost ready to move on. Whether you just ended a relationship or are still missing an ex, these wise quotes about past loves are sure to get you right in your feels (and also make for the perfect post-breakup Instagram captions).

1. "And I know the past isn't a mirror image of the future, but it's a reflection of what can be; and when your first love breaks your heart, the shards of that can draw blood for a long, long time." — Elizabeth Acevedo, With the Fire on High

2. "Why did people think they could be alone? Everyone you loved or hated or touched or who made you tremble or bruised you — they were always there, ready to enter and take over the room. It didn't matter at all if you opened the door or not. They came rushing in. They knew the way, knew how to make themselves at home."― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, In Perfect Light

3. "Love is so short, forgetting is so long." ― Pablo Neruda, Love Poems

4. "Heartbreak is like shattered glass: while it's impossible that two pieces could splinter in precisely the same pattern, in the end, it doesn't matter, because the effect is identical." — Daniel Alarcón, At Night We Walk in Circles

5. "We suffer because we feel we are giving more than we receive. We suffer because our love is going unrecognized. We suffer because we are unable to impose our own rules." — Paulo Coelho, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

6. "You think you know someone, imagine you know them better than anyone, and then little by little, the fabric of their life unravels before your eyes and you realize how little you knew."― Chanel Cleeton, Next Year in Havana

7. "It's a whole other kind of sorcery, pulling the pieces of a shattered heart back together, and it's one I know nothing about."― Daniel José Older, Half-Resurrection Blues

8. "Not all loves are meant to last forever. Some burn like fire until there is nothing left but ash and black ink on skin." ― Zoraida Córdova, Labyrinth Lost

9. "What I've now learned is, going forward, I have to be careful whom I trust with my heart. I have to be suspicious that someone will use the love I give and carry it over to someone else." ― Adam Silvera, History Is All You Left Me

10. "Nobody deserves your tears, but whoever deserves them will not make you cry." — Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

11. "You never have to get over it, you just have to get on with it." — Pam Muñoz Ryan, Paint the Wind

12. "It made me wonder about all the ways that we are able to love each other and how movies and TV make it seem like you have to discard people once they break your heart or once the love disappears. Maybe that was a horrible lie, a complete disservice to real love." — Gabby Rivera, Juliet Takes a Breath

13. "Perhaps we are in this world to search for love, find it and lose it, again and again. With each love, we are born anew, and with each love that ends we collect a new wound. I am covered with proud scars." — Isabel Allende, Paula

14. "But it's not like we only have enough love reserved for one person. It's possible to love multiple people over time. If you ask me, I think that every time you experience love, it feels and looks and sounds different." — Joseph Cassara, The House of Impossible Beauties

15. "This almost broke me, but it didn't. It made me stronger than before. You have made me better. Thank you. I will love you until the end of time." — Carmen Maria Machado, Her Body and Other Parties

Keep your chin up, friend. You've got this.