Snail mail: love letters to strangers

"You may struggle at times, but here you are, having picked yourself up again and pressing on. Never lose that. You are so much stronger than you think." "Love can't enter through a wall. It comes in when doors are open."

"Well, friend. I guess - I guess we're not so fleeting after all. I'd say we're pretty damn infinite."

These are all excerpts from love letters written to and from total strangers. They are part of a project called The World Needs More Love Letters, a community of more than 20,000 letter-writers from across 49 different countries.

They mail love letters to strangers in need (you can request a love letter of your own here), and they leave love letters in public places like cafes, libraries, holiday destinations and college campuses for strangers to find.

The whole project started with one young woman, Hannah Brencher, who left love letters for strangers all over New York City to help lessen the loneliness and depression that followed her graduation from university.

How about you. Would you write a love letter to a stranger? If you'd like to, you can get involved here.

{Image credits, all licensed under Creative Commons: 1. BiblioArchives 2. Trondheim Byarkiv 3. petertandlund 4. State Library of Victoria Collections}