diff --git a/CHANGELOG.markdown b/CHANGELOG.markdown
--- a/CHANGELOG.markdown
+++ b/CHANGELOG.markdown
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+0.4.1
+-----
+* Added support for embedding all of the pattern files into the library as resources by using `cabal install hyphenation -fembed`. This is not the default as it inflates the library size by ~3MB and forces all users to pay for all the hyphenation patterns, but it can be useful for users who aim to build standalone applications.
+
 0.4
 ---
 * Removed Farsi. We had no pattern files.
diff --git a/hyphenation.cabal b/hyphenation.cabal
--- a/hyphenation.cabal
+++ b/hyphenation.cabal
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 name:          hyphenation
 category:      Text
-version:       0.4
+version:       0.4.1
 license:       BSD3
 cabal-version: >= 1.8
 license-file:  LICENSE
@@ -38,11 +38,24 @@
   type: git
   location: git://github.com/ekmett/hyphenation.git
 
+Flag Embed
+  Description: Embed data in library binary
+               (Warning: This increases the executable size by about 3Mbs unless
+                         unneeded language data files are manually removed from
+                         the "data" directory before compiling)
+  Default:     False
+
 library
   build-depends:
     base                 >= 4       && < 5,
     containers           >= 0.3.0.0 && < 0.6,
     unordered-containers >= 0.2.1   && < 0.3
+
+  if flag(embed)
+    build-depends:
+      file-embed           >= 0.0.7   && < 0.1,
+      bytestring           >= 0.9.4   && < 0.11
+    CC-OPtions: "-DEMBED"
 
   exposed-modules:
    Text.Hyphenation
diff --git a/src/Text/Hyphenation/Language.hs b/src/Text/Hyphenation/Language.hs
--- a/src/Text/Hyphenation/Language.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Hyphenation/Language.hs
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 #if defined(__GLASGOW_HASKELL__) && __GLASGOW_HASKELL__ >= 702
 {-# LANGUAGE Trustworthy #-}
 #endif
+#if EMBED
+{-# LANGUAGE TemplateHaskell #-}
+#endif
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 -- |
 -- Module      :  Text.Hyphenation.Language
@@ -40,8 +43,17 @@
 import Text.Hyphenation.Pattern
 import Text.Hyphenation.Exception
 import System.IO.Unsafe
+#if !EMBED
 import Paths_hyphenation
+#else
+import Data.FileEmbed
+import Control.Arrow (second)
+import Data.ByteString.Char8 (unpack)
 
+hyphenatorFiles :: [(FilePath, String)]
+hyphenatorFiles = map (second unpack) $(embedDir "data")
+#endif
+
 chrLine :: String -> [(Int, Char)]
 chrLine (x:xs) = map (\y -> (fromEnum y, x)) xs
 chrLine [] = []
@@ -51,6 +63,7 @@
 -- (e.g. @hyphenateLanguage \"en-us\"@ opens @\"\/Users\/ekmett\/.cabal\/share\/hyphenation-0.2\/ghc-7.4.1\/hyph-en-us.hyp.txt\"@
 -- among others when run on the author's local machine)
 loadHyphenator :: String -> IO Hyphenator
+#if !EMBED
 loadHyphenator language = do
   hyp <- getDataFileName ("hyph-" ++ language ++ ".hyp.txt") >>= readFile
   pat <- getDataFileName ("hyph-" ++ language ++ ".pat.txt") >>= readFile
@@ -58,6 +71,14 @@
   let chrMap = IM.fromList (lines chr >>= chrLine)
       tryLookup x = fromMaybe x $ IM.lookup (fromEnum x) chrMap
   return $ Hyphenator tryLookup (parsePatterns pat) (parseExceptions hyp) defaultLeftMin defaultRightMin
+#else
+loadHyphenator language = return $ Hyphenator tryLookup (parsePatterns pat) (parseExceptions hyp) defaultLeftMin defaultRightMin
+  where Just hyp = lookup ("hyph-" ++ language ++ ".hyp.txt") hyphenatorFiles
+        Just pat = lookup ("hyph-" ++ language ++ ".pat.txt") hyphenatorFiles
+        Just chr = lookup ("hyph-" ++ language ++ ".chr.txt") hyphenatorFiles
+        chrMap = IM.fromList (lines chr >>= chrLine)
+        tryLookup x = fromMaybe x $ IM.lookup (fromEnum x) chrMap
+#endif
 
 -- | A strongly typed set of available languages you can use for hyphenation.
 data Language