Collection of good and meaningful English stories

Good English short stories about love

1. Love, Wealth, and Success

A woman came out of her house and saw three old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them.

She said, “I don’t think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat.”

“Is the man of the house home?” they asked. “No”, she said. “He’s out.” “Then we cannot come in”, they replied.

In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened. “Go tell them I am home and invite them in,” he said. The woman went out and invited the men in. “We do not go into a house together,” they replied. “Why is that?” she wanted to know. One of the old men explained: “His name is Wealth,” he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, “He is Success, and I am Love.”

Then he added, “Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home.” The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. “How nice!” he said. “Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!” His wife disagreed.

“My dear, why don’t we invite Success?” Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her suggestion: “Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!” “Let us heed our daughter-in-law’s advice,” said the husband to his wife. “Go out and invite Love to be our guest.” The woman went out and asked the three old men, “Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest.” Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other two also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: “I only invited Love, why are you coming in?” The old men replied together: “If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would’ve stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!”

2. Love story

One day, his wife, who had very long hair asked him to buy her a comb for her hair to grow well and to be well-groomed.

The man felt very sorry and said no. He explained that he did not even have enough money to fix the strap of his watch he had just broken. She did not insist on her request.

The man went to work and passed by a watch shop, sold his damaged watch at a low price, and went to buy a comb for his wife.

He came home in the evening with the comb in his hand ready to give to his wife.

He was surprised when he saw his wife with a very short hair cut.

She had sold her hair and was holding a new watchband.

Tears flowed simultaneously from their eyes, not for the futility of their actions, but the reciprocity of their love.

Learn English through life stories

1. Poor or Rich?

One day, a rich dad took his son on a trip to a poor village. He wanted to show his son how the people in the village lived. They spent time on a farm of one of the poorest families. At the end of the day, the dad asked: “Did you see how poor they are? What did you learn?”

The boy answered: “We have a dog, they have four. We have a pool, they have a river. We buy food and they grow theirs. We have walls to protect us, they have friends.”

After they left, the boy wanted to tell his dad the truth. ‘’Well, thanks for showing me how poor we are”, said the boy.

2. Who would like this $20 bill?

A well-known speaker started his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked. “Who would like this $20 bill? “Hands started going up. He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you – but first, let me do this.” He proceeded to crumple the 20-dollar note up. He then asked. “Who still wants it?” Still, the hands were up in the air.

“Well,” he replied, “what if I do this?” He dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. “Now, who still wants it?” Still, the hands went into the air.

“My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless; but no matter what happens or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you. The worth of our lives comes, not in what we do or who we know, but by …WHO WE ARE. You are special – don’t ever forget it.”

Short stories in English

1. Never tell a lie

On his deathbed, a father advised his son to always speak the truth. The son promised that he would never tell a lie.

One day, while going to the city through a forest, he got surrounded by some robbers. One of them asked, “What do you have?”

The boy answered, “I have fifty rupees.”

They searched for him but couldn’t find anything. When they were about to go, the boy called out, “I am not telling a lie. See this fifty rupee note which I had hidden in my shirt.”

The leader of the robbers felt pleased with the truthfulness of the boy, gave him a hundred rupees as a reward, and went away.

2. Better bent than broken

Once a huge oak tree stood on the bank of a river. It was well nourished by the water of the river. Naturally, it was very strong and had a thick stem. Just nearby, grew some reeds with thin but flexible stems. They stood almost half in water and had flourished well too.

One day, strong winds blew. The tree, though huge and strong, broke from the middle and was thrown across the stream just among the reeds. On the other hand, the tree was very surprised to see that the reeds suffered no harm at all.

The oak could not make out the reason for the safety of the reeds and asked them, “How is it that you, being frail and slender, managed to face the gale without any harm? But I, strong enough, have been broken.”

The reeds replied, “You were proud of your strength and refused to bend. So, you broke while we bowed and yielded to the gale and were spared.”

Here are some great and inspirational short stories. If you know of any other inspirational short stories that you think should be included in the list, let us know in the comments section below.