What Is Love?

Ahhh yes… love is in the air. Valentines Day – that day you either eagerly await, dread, or are just plain indifferent to – has rolled around again. Personally, I think it is nice to have a day where you do a little bit extra to show your partner how much you love and appreciate them (assuming, of course, that you have a partner).

So what is love? Many a great mind (and probably a few poor ones too) have contemplated this question. I doubt there is any other topic more written about, whether in the form of a story, a poem or a song. So for today’s article I went in search of some of the best quotes on the subject. The following are 10 quotes that each, in my opinion, give a little insight into what love really is:

Love is mysterious

“To live is like love, all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it.” – Samuel Butler

Must be given away

“The love we give away is the only love we keep.” – Elbert Hubbard

Is the honey of life

“Life is the flower for which love is the honey.” – Victor Hugo

Can overcome obstacles

“Love, like a river, will cut a new path whenever it meets an obstacle.” – Crystal Middlemas

A special connection with someone (Hi Kathryn :) )

“You know you are in love
when you see the world in her eyes,
and her eyes everywhere in the world.” – David Levesque

Should be spread everywhere

“Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor… Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.” Mother Theresa

Something we should all experience

“Better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.” – Saint Augustine

Is needed for peace

“We look forward to the time when the power to love will replace the love of power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.” – William Gladstone

May not involve finding a perfect person

“We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.” – Sam Keen

Is all you need

“All you need is love.” – The Beatles

So, what does love mean to you? Or, if you have a favorite quote regarding love please share it below in the comments…

16 thoughts on “What Is Love?”

  1. Excellent sentiment for this special week. While not explicitly about love – the following poem resonates with me the timeless touch of love upon the human spirt.

    Enjoy!

    Never Again Would Bird’s Song Be the Same

    He would declare and could himself believe
    That the birds there in all the garden round
    From having heard the daylong voice of Eve
    Had added to their own an oversound,
    Her tone of meaning but without the words.
    Admittedly an eloquence so soft
    Could only have had an influence on birds
    When call or laughter carried it aloft.
    Be that as may be, she was in their song.
    Moreover her voice upon their voices crossed
    Had now persisted in the woods so long
    That probably it never would be lost.
    Never again would birds’ song be the same.
    And to do that to birds was why she came.

    Robert Frost

  2. You’ve chosen some great quotes. Especially the one dedicated to Kathryn. A few more I’ve liked:

    “Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell.” Joan Crawford

    “Want to improve your relationships? See love as a verb, rather than as a feeling.” Stephen R. Covey

    “Only love can be divided endlessly and still not diminish.” Anne Morrow Lindbergh

    For many entertaining quotes on love and other topics, check out the book “Oxymoronica” by Dr. Mardy Grothe.

  3. Great post. Quotes can be so inspiring at times. I keep an entire mediawiki just to collect quotes. My favorite on that list is the one about a special connection with someone.

    Unrelated to Valentines Day, my favorite quote of all time is by Walter Bagehot: “The greatest pleasure in life is doing what other people said you cannot do.”
    Just thought I’d share that. :-)

    Happy Valentine’s Day Peter.

  4. Great post! Sometimes the term ‘love’ can be so hard to sum up. It is so simple yet to hard to put what it means into words. Hope that makes sense!

    For me love is when my daughter looks into my eyes, goes dreamy and says ‘I love you, mummy’

    I am also reminded of a lyric from a Brian Adams song ‘when you can see your unborn children in her eyes’ from Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman

  5. Love stems from a belief in love existing. We are all in love with things, objects, people even. But the honesty of love is the the most powerful and the most dibilitating of all facets of love.

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  6. Love is something that comes from with in, it is something that just is, it is a feeling, a warmth, love is kissing your spouse on the forhead as they sleep and the simple smile they make, love is having you little boy say “DaDa, DaDa” as you pull into the driveway, love is a passion for life and not too many words can really describe it.

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  7. Beautiful post with nice quotes. …….just one i wanted to add….’Money might make the world go round, But love keeps it alive’

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