Who better to write the world’s most memorable love letters than the world’s most famous writers? We take a look at the most passionate snail-mail the world has ever seen, starting with French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850):

My beloved angel,

I am nearly mad about you, as much as one can be mad: I cannot bring together two ideas that you do not interpose yourself between them.

I can no longer think of anything but you. In spite of myself, my imagination carries me to you. I grasp you, I kiss you, I caress you, a thousand of the most amorous caresses take possession of me.

As for my heart, there you will always be – very much so. I have a delicious sense of you there. But my God, what is to become of me, if you have deprived me of my reason? This is a monomania which, this morning, terrifies me.

I rise up every moment saying to myself, “Come, I am going there!” Then I sit down again, moved by the sense of my obligations. There is a frightful conflict. This is not life. I have never before been like that. You have devoured everything.

I feel foolish and happy as soon as I think of you. I whirl round in a delicious dream in which in one instant I live a thousand years. What a horrible situation!

Overcome with love, feeling love in every pore, living only for love, and seeing oneself consumed by griefs, and caught in a thousand spiders’ threads.

O, my darling Eva, you did not know it. I picked up your card. It is there before me, and I talk to you as if you were there. I see you, as I did yesterday, beautiful, astonishingly beautiful.

Yesterday, during the whole evening, I said to myself “she is mine!” Ah! The angels are not as happy in Paradise as I was yesterday!

- Honoré de Balzac to Ewelina Hańska (a Polish countess) in June 1836. Balzac would finally marry Hańska in 1850 – just five months before his death.

Images: Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons

Curating the very best reads weekly from our daily recommendation engine, We Heart This.

The top stories of the week at EcoSalon.

As McDonalds unpacks its products in an attempt to come clean about how and where it gets its ingredients, we take a closer look (because yes, we like to raise a McEyebrow).

Amy DuFault unpacks rich, sad memories of her grandmother, Jeanne Julia Kerouac.

If you like unearthing bargains from the unlikeliest corners, check out our 40 photos from flea markets round the world.

And, if you’re packing too much into your life, ponder a few of these 50 quotes on meditation and yoga.

Finally, make sure you do not miss the return of the EcoSalon Box! This amazing, limited-edition curated collection of eco-goodies is available in 6 assortments, all priced at the rock-bottom steal of $99. Each assortment would originally retail at over $500, so this is an amazing deal. Check out our  Fashion, Conscious Eating, Travel, Health + Beauty, Mom + Baby and Entertainment assortments now. Go on, get!

Curating the very best reads weekly from our daily recommendation engine, We Heart This.

#doseofcute

Don’t Talk to the Baby Porcupine Before It Has Its Coffee

by Madeleine Davies at Jezebel

#stillprochoice

Obama on Roe vs. Wade

by Jessica Wakeman at The Frisky

#moresalsa

Tacos Are Good for Activism Too

by Cord Jefferson at GOOD

#thepaualdeenrevelation

What Chefs Are Really Eating

by Frank Bruni at the New York Times Sunday Review

#handdrawnlittleprince

It Is Only With the Heart One Can See Rightly

by Maria Popova at Brain Pickings

The top stories of the week at EcoSalon.

Want to give your body’s fat-burning mechanisms a kick-start? We suggest 20 foods to boost your metabolism to new heights.

Or pehaps you need a burst of adrenaline? Gather inspiration from these 25 photos of thrill-seeking women.

Spotlighting the tiny unsung heroes of our biological systems, we praise Lactobacilli, Mycorrhizal fungi and more.

And turning to the inner workings of your home – why not decorate it with fashionable bicycles (the chic way to gad about for over a century)?

And if that’s left you feeling super-empowered, check out our 40 quotes on feminism for more inspiration.

EcoSalon’s selected favorite reads of the week.

Want to know what the EcoSalon team has been reading this week? Check in every Saturday or stay up to date with our daily EcoSalon reading list in the We Heart This section.

If The Clothes Fit: A Feminist Take On Fashion, at Ms. blog

the team of researchers led by Dr Philippa Darbre from the University of Reading in the UK, found that virtually all—99 percent—of the tissue samples collected from women participating in the study contained at least one paraben, and 60 percent of the samples contained no less than five parabens.

Breast Cancers Study Finds Parabens In Virtually All Tumors, by Jill Ettinger at Organic Authority

Even with the sultan at the front door with a sword and the executioner at the back door with a sewing kit, they still wanted their daily cup of joe. And that’s the history of coffee in a bean skin: Old habits die hard.

Drink Coffee? Off With Your Head, by Adam Cole at The Salt

The term “smart cities” is a bit ambiguous. Some people choose a narrow definition – i.e. cities that use information and communication technologies to deliver services to their citizens. I prefer a broader definition: Smart cities use information and communication technologies (ICT) to be more intelligent and efficient in the use of resources, resulting in cost and energy savings, improved service delivery and quality of life, and reduced environmental footprint – all supporting innovation and the low-carbon economy.

The Top 10 Smart Cities On The Planet, by Boyd Cohen at Co.EXIST

Back then, people took the bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?

Anyone over the age of 35 should read this, as I copied this from a friends status, at Gaasedal’s Weblog

Want more? Catch all our recommended reads in the We Heart This section, updated daily. You can also subscribe to We Heart This daily and weekly for easy inbox delivery.

Tip your editors at tips@ecosalon.com if you have a great article worth reading.

Image: swruler

The top stories of the week at EcoSalon.

This week, we’re fascinated by big, big furniture and the attraction of simple, hearty, unfussy one-pot meals. All we really want to be doing is warming our feet by the fire with a good book (maybe one of these). Oh, and reminding people that just because it’s cold it doesn’t mean global warming is nonsense. That, too.

We admired the beauty of the 11.6 million square miles of our planet called Africa, in 40 gorgeous photos.

We pondered some of history’s most famous quotes on living small.

Finally, since those posts probably kept you so busy that your Facebook Wall went to hell in a digital handbasket, our editor has a handy and completely sincere guide for turning your unacceptably messy real life into a cascade of Facebook likes. Tell your friends.

The top stories of the week at EcoSalon.

We looked at 40 inspirational quotes on new beginnings…

…which you might need if you’re seeing any of these 10 signs a relationship is faltering.

A new year, a new food obsession – and Anna Brones suggests it should be tacos.

When the winter weather is playing havoc with your tresses, here’s how to fight back.

Finally, if you’re looking for a new green habit for the year, how about taking someone else’s trash in?

Organic and artisan goods perfect for gifting.

Trying to track down the best goods for food lovers? Look no further. We rounded up some of our favorite bites from Foodspotting, perfect for the foodie in your life.

Organic Wheat Beer (Mothership Wit)

Kombucha Vinegar (Happy Girl Kitchen)

Terre Rosse Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Azienda Agraria Hispellum)

Raw Vegan Chocolates (ChocolaTree Organic Eatery)

Achva Organic Halva (Johnvince Foods)

Organic Dominican Dark Chocolate Bar (Vosges Haut Chocolat)

Iswari Organic Raw Chocolate Making Kit (Nourish)

Emmy’s Organics – Flagstaff, Arizona

Artisan chocolate (Halls)

Assorted Macaroons (ET Artisan Sweets)

Organic Cheese Selection (SFO, San Francisco Airport)

Top Image: Out of the Kitchen Food Adventures

The top stories at EcoSalon for the first week of 2012. 

A new year is exactly the right time to question – am I in the right job? Here are 10 telltale signs you need to do exactly that.

Could you create just one canful of trash this year? This lady can show you how.

We show how you can strut your stuff like Alexa Chung.

…and start the year with the “big clean” called Oosouji.

Finally, if you’re heading further afield this year, these 40 Gorgeous Photos of Europe may give you a few ideas!