Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives.
—C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) Irish-British Academic, Author, Literary Scholar
There is in life no blessing like affection; it soothes, it hallows, elevates, subdues, and bringeth down to earth its native heaven: life has nought else that may supply its place.
—Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–38) English Poet, Novelist
I was born with an enormous need for affection, and a terrible need to give it.
—Audrey Hepburn (1929–93) Belgian-British Actress
We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection.
—The 14th Dalai Lama (b.1935) Tibetan Buddhist Leader, Civil Rights Advocate, Author
Always when I see a man fond of praise I always think it is because he is an affectionate man craving for affection.
—John Butler Yeats (1839–1922) Irish Painter of Portraits
Don’t be afraid of showing affection. Be warm and tender, thoughtful and affectionate. Men are more helped by sympathy than by service. Love is more than money, and a kind word will give more pleasure than a present.
—John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury (1834–1913) British Banker, Scientist, Polymath
Affection, mistress of passion, sways it to the mood of what it likes or loathes.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
I never met a man I didn’t like.
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
The conqueror is regarded with awe; the wise man commands our respect; but it is only the benevolent man that wins our affection.
—William Dean Howells (1837–1920) American Novelist, Critic
It is the passion that is in a kiss that gives to it its sweetness; it is the affection in a kiss that sanctifies it.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
Our affections are our life.—We live by them; they supply our warmth.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
No decking sets forth anything so much as affection.
—Philip Sidney (1554–86) English Soldier Poet, Courtier
Be a good human being, a warm-hearted affectionate person. That is my fundamental belief. Having a sense of caring, a feeling of compassion will bring happiness of peace of mind to oneself and automatically create a positive atmosphere.
—The 14th Dalai Lama (b.1935) Tibetan Buddhist Leader, Civil Rights Advocate, Author
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
Affection is the broadest basis of good in life.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to.
—Alfred A. Montapert (1906–97) American Engineer, Philosopher
A woman’s whole life is a history of the affections. The heart is her world: it is there her ambition strives for empire; it is there her avarice seeks for hidden treasures. She sends forth her sympathies on adventure; she embarks her whole soul on the traffic of affection; and if shipwrecked, her case is hopeless—for it is a bankruptcy of the heart.
—Washington Irving (1783–1859) American Essayist, Biographer, Historian
Most people would rather give than get affection.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
One should never direct people towards happiness, because happiness too is an idol of the market-place. One should direct them towards mutual affection. A beast gnawing at its prey can be happy too, but only human beings can feel affection for each other, and this is the highest achievement they can aspire to.
—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Russian Dissident Novelist
The moment we indulge our affections, the earth is metamorphosed, there is no winter and no night; all tragedies, all ennui s, vanish, all duties even.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The happiest moments my heart knows are those in which it is pouring forth its affections to a few esteemed characters.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
The affection of young ladies is of as rapid growth as Jack’s beanstalk, and reaches up to the sky in a night.
—William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–63) English Novelist
That trial is not fair where affection is judge.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
If there is any thing that keeps the mind open to angel visits, and repels the ministry of evil, it is a pure human love.
—Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806–67) American Poet, Playwright, Essayist
Caresses, expressions of one sort or another, are necessary to the life of the affections as leaves are to the life of a tree. If they are wholly restrained, love will die at the roots.
—Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–64) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Were’t not affection chains thy tender days
To the sweet glances of thy honored love,
I rather would entreat thy company
To see the wonders of the world abroad
Than, living dully sluggardized at home,
Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The hardest part of all is learning to be a well of affection, and not a fountain; to show them we love them not when we feel like it, but when they do.
—Nan Fairbrother (1913–71) English Writer, Educator
Jealousy is the grave of affection.
—Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) American Christian Leader, Humanitarian, Writer
Self-interest is the enemy of all true affection.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
There is so little to redeem the dry mass of follies and errors that make up so much of life, that anything to love or reverence becomes, as it were, a sabbath to the soul.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
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