All thoughts, all passions, all delights,
Whatever stirs this mortal frame,
All are but ministers of Love,
And feed his sacred flame.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
How sweet it is to love, and to be dissolved, and as it were to bathe myself in thy love.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer
Love, which is only an episode in the life of a man, is the entire history of woman’s life.
—Anne Louise Germaine de Stael (1766–1817) French Woman of Letters
When we lose one we love, our bitterest tears are called forth by the memory of hours when we loved not enough.
—Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949) Belgian Poet, Playwright, Essayist
We choose those we like; with those we love, we have no say in the matter.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Two halves have little choice but to join;
And yes, they do make a whole
but two wholes when they coincide…
That is beauty.
That is love.
—Peter McWilliams (1949–2000) American Author, Activist
Every moment of our lives we are either growing or dying—and it’s largely a choice, not fate. Throughout its life cycle, every one of the body’s trillions of cells is driven to grow and improve its ability to use more of its innate yet untapped capacity. Research biologist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, who was twice awarded the Nobel Prize, called this syntropy, which he defined as the “innate drive in living matter to perfect itself”. It turns conventional thinking upside down…As living cells—or as people—there is no staying the same. If we aim for some middle ground or status quo, it’s an illusion—beneath the surface what’s actually happening is we’re dying, not growing. And the goal of a lifetime is continued growth, not adulthood. As Rene Dubos put it, “Genius is childhood recaptured”. For this to happen, studies show that we must recapture—or prevent the loss of—such child-like traits as the ability to learn, to love, to laugh about small things, to leap, to wonder, and to explore. It’s time to rescue ourselves from our grown-up ways before it’s too late.
—Robert Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat
Love is like a virus. It can happen to anybody at any time.
—Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American Poet
To live is like to love—all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it.
—Samuel Butler
When we are in love we often doubt that which we most believe.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Love is the poetry of the senses.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.
—Buddhist Teaching
At the beginning and at the end of love, the two lovers are embarrassed to find themselves alone.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
Busy old fool, unruly Sun, why dost thou thus through windows and through curtains call on us? Must to thy motions lovers seasons run?
—John Donne (1572–1631) English Poet, Cleric
Love, you are eternal like springtime.
—Juan Ramon Jimenez (1881–1958) Spanish Lyric Poet
Subdue your passion or it will subdue you.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
The more familiar two people become, the more the language they speak together departs from that of the ordinary, dictionary-defined discourse. Familiarity creates a new language, an in-house language of intimacy that carries reference to the story the two lovers are weaving together and that cannot be readily understood by others.
—Alain de Botton (b.1969) Swiss-born British Philosopher, Author
What is love? It is the morning and the evening star.
—Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951) American Novelist, Short-Story Writer
The love of life is necessary to the vigorous prosecution of any undertaking.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
There can be no excess to love, none to knowledge, none to beauty.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
A man in love mistakes a pimple for a dimple.
—Japanese Proverb
They stood there knowing each other well and each on the whole willing to accept the satisfaction of knowing as a compensation for the inconvenience—whatever it might be—of being known.
—Henry James (1843–1916) American-born British Novelist, Writer
Love is the only freedom in the world because it so elevates the spirit that the laws of humanity and the phenomena of nature do not alter its course.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
Love means to love that which is unlovable, or it is no virtue at all.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
All loves should be simply stepping-stones to the love of God. So it was with me; and blessed be his name for his great goodness and mercy.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.
—Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) South African Political leader
We don’t believe in rheumatism and true love until after the first attack.
—Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916) Austrian Novelist
Love is an ocean of emotions entirely surrounded by expenses.
—Thomas Dewar, 1st Baron Dewar (1864–1930) Scottish Businessperson
No cord or cable can draw so forcibly, or bind so fast, as love can do with a single thread.
—Robert Burton (1577–1640) English Scholar, Clergyman
Love all. Trust a few. Do wrong to none.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things that are missing. If you don’t have love in your life, no matter what else there is, it’s not enough.
—Ask Ann Landers (1918–2002) American Advice Columnist
Love is free; to promise for ever to love the same woman is not less absurd than to promise to believe the same creed; such a vow in both cases excludes us from all inquiry.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist
Love is like a beautiful flower which I may not touch, but whose fragrance makes the garden a place of delight just the same.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
Great love affairs start with Champagne and end with tisane.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
Love, like fire, goes out without fuel.
—Mikhail Lermontov (1814–41) Russian Novelist, Poet
Love and you shall be loved. All love is mathematically just, as much as the two sides of an algebraic equation.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
We need not be afraid to touch, to feel, to show emotion. The easiest thing in the world is to be what you are, what you feel. The hardest thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don’t let them put you in that position.
—Leo Buscaglia (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker
Mistresses are like books; if you pore upon them too much, they doze you and make you unfit for company; but if used discreetly, you are the fitter for conversation by em.
—William Wycherley (c.1640–1716) English Dramatist
Wise men say, only fools rush in. But I can’t help falling in love with you.
—Elvis Presley (1935–77) American Musician, Singer, Songwriter, Actor
Know that a word suddenly shot from the tongue is like an arrow shot from the bow. Son, that arrow won’t turn back on its way; you must damn the torrent at its source.
—Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207–73) Persian Muslim Mystic
Give all to love; obey thy heart.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
It is a beautiful necessity of our nature to love something.
—Douglas William Jerrold (1803–57) English Writer, Dramatist, Wit
Love is too young to know what conscience is.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Friendship is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Affection, like melancholy, magnifies trifles; but the magnifying of the one is like looking through a telescope at heavenly objects; that of the other, like enlarging monsters with a microscope.
—Leigh Hunt (1784–1859) British Poet, Essayist, Journalist
It is by loving and by being loved that one can come nearest to the soul of another.
—George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish Novelist, Lecturer, Poet
Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the Gods.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
Love is the master-key that opens the gates of happiness, of hatred, of jealousy, and, most easily of all, the gate of fear. How terrible is the one fact of beauty!
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist