Quotes on Love
Quotes on love, aphorisms, ideas, thoughts and reflections on the main human phenomenon that can produce joy, life, and also a bit of sorrow.
Quotes on love. Teach only love for that is what you are.
Anonymous
Everyone admits that love is wonderful and necessary, yet no one agrees on just what it is.
Diane Ackerman (1948-, American poet, writer, naturalist)
If you are really interested in this topic and you want more quotes you can also download and read this book of Quotes and aphorisms on Love Edited by Carl William Brown

Quotes on love
There is a law that man should love his neighbor as himself. In a few hundred years it should be as natural to mankind as breathing or the upright gait; but if he does not learn it, he must perish.
Alfred Adler (1870-1937, Austrian psychiatrist)
What is love? Love is when you care more about someone else than you care about yourself.
George Akers
Love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.
Louisa May Alcott
Miserable is that love that needs words to express itself.
Carl William Brown
Oh, love isn’t there to make us happy. I believe it exists to show us how much we can endure.
Hermann Hesse
I need nothing but God, and to lose myself in the heart of God.
Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
Love is a great beautifier.
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888, American author)
She was one of those happily created beings who please without effort, make friends everywhere, and take life so gracefully and easily that less fortunate souls are tempted to believe that such are born under a lucky star.
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888, American author)
Love is nothing more than the attempt to overcome the barrier of time, piercing the screen of space. But this is only appearance, in reality it is the restless matter that transforms itself.
Carl William Brown (Educator and aphorist)
The Impossible Generalized Man today is the critic who believes in loving those unworthy of love as well as those worthy - yet believes this only insofar as no personal risk is entailed. Meaning he loves no one, worthy or no. This is what makes him impossible.
Nelson Algren (1909-1981, American author)
I was nauseous and tingly all over. I was either in love or I had smallpox.
Woody Allen (1935-, American director, screenwriter, actor, comedian)
Sex alleviates tension. Love causes it.
Woody Allen (1935-, American director, screenwriter, actor, comedian)
A temporary insanity curable by marriage.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914, American author, editor, journalist, “The Devil’s Dictionary”)
In every loving woman there is a priestess of the past – a pious guardian of some affection, of which the object has disappeared.
Henri Frederic Amiel (1821-1881, Swiss philosopher, poet, critic)
Women wish to be loved not because they are pretty, or good, or well bred, or graceful, or intelligent, but because they are themselves.
Henri Frederic Amiel (1821-1881, Swiss philosopher, poet, critic)
In real love you want the other person’s good. In romantic love, you want the other person.
Margaret Anderson (1886 -1973, American literary editor and autobiographer)
If you aren’t good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you’ll resent the time and energy you give another person that you aren’t even giving to yourself.
Barbara De Angelis (American expert on relationship & love, author)
Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible - it cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession could.
Barbara De Angelis (American expert on relationship & love, author)
Love’s greatest gift is its ability to make everything it touches sacred.
Barbara De Angelis (American expert on relationship & love, author)
The more connections you and your lover make, not just between your bodies, but between your minds, your hearts, and your souls, the more you will strengthen the fabric of your relationship, and the more real moments you will experience together.
Barbara De Angelis (American expert on relationship & love, author)
A bizarre sensation pervades a relationship of pretense. No truth seems true. A simple morning’s greeting and response appear loaded with innuendo and fraught with implications. Each nicety becomes more sterile and each withdrawal more permanent.
Maya Angelou (1928-, African-American poet, writer, performer)
There is love of course. And then there’s life, its enemy.
Jean Anouilh (1910-1987, French playwright)

Love quotes and aphorisms
Well-ordered self-love is right and natural.
St. Thomas Aquinas
Love is made by two people, in different kinds of solitude. It can be in a crowd, but in an oblivious crowd.
Louis Aragon (1897-1982, French poet)
Love is, above all, the gift of oneself.
Jean Anouilh Ardele (1910-1987, French dramatist)
Oh, love is real enough; you will find it someday, but it has one archenemy – and that is life.
Jean Anouilh Ardele (1910-1987, French dramatist)
Love, by its very nature, is unworldly, and it is for this reason rather than its rarity that it is not only apolitical but anti-political, perhaps the most powerful of all anti-political human forces.
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975, German-born American political philosopher)
Different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life.
Aristotle (BC 384-322, Greek philosopher)
Wicked men obey from fear; good men, from love.
Aristotle (BC 384-322, Greek philosopher)
One can be a soldier without dying, and a lover without sighing.
Edwin Arnold (1832-1904, British poet, journalist)
In a great romance, each person plays a part the other really likes.
Elizabeth Ashley (American actress)
Love is the victim’s response to the rapist.
Ti-Grace Atkinson (1938-, American feminist writer)
The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them; there ought to be as many for love.
Margaret Atwood (1939-, Canadian novelist, poet, critic)
A false enchantment can all too easily last a lifetime.
W. H. Auden (1907-1973, Anglo-American poet)
We are not commanded (or forbidden) to love our mates, our children, our friends, our country, because such affections come naturally to us and are good in themselves, although we may corrupt them. We are commanded to love our neighbor because our “natural” attitude toward the “other” is one of either indifference or hostility.
W. H. Auden (1907-1973, Anglo-American poet)
We must love one another or die.
W. H. Auden (1907-1973, Anglo-American poet)
Pure love is a revolutionary sentiment, which is why the true philanthropist can only be a subversive.
Carl William Brown (Educator and aphorist)
The best way to forget one’s self is to look at the world with attention and love.
Red Auerbach (1917-, American basketball coach)
Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.
Marcus Aurelius (121-180, Roman emperor, philosopher)
Love is the foundation and keystone of life.
Lou Austin
Not all of us have to possess earthshaking talent. Just common sense and love will do.
Myrtle Auvil
Holy church - that mother who is also a queen because she is a king’s bride.
St. Teresa of Avila
Love makes labor light. Love alone gives value to all things.
St. Teresa of Avila
The best thing must be to flee from all to the All.
St. Teresa of Avila
Real love stories never have endings.
Richard Bach (1936-, American author)
For a crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626, British philosopher, essayist, statesman)
Nuptial love makes mankind; friendly love perfects it; but wanton love corrupts and debases it.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626, British philosopher, essayist, statesman)

Quotes on love by English culture
She soothed and solaced and celebrated, destroying her gift by maiming it to suit her hearers.
Martha Bacon
Love is the lamp that lights the universe: without that light …the earth is a barren promontory and man the quintessence of dust.
Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1837-1915, British novelist, playwright, editor)
When once estrangement has arisen between those who truly love each other, everything seems to widen the breach.
Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1837-1915, British novelist, playwright, editor)
Perhaps morality is nothing more than a great rational love.
Carl William Brown (Educator and aphorist)
The sweetest joy, the wildest woe is love.
Pearl Bailey (1918-1990, American vocalist, movie and stage actress)
What the world really needs is more love and less paper work.
Pearl Bailey (1918-1990, American vocalist, movie and stage actress)
You cannot belong to anyone else, until you belong to yourself.
Pearl Bailey (1918-1990, American vocalist, movie and stage actress)
Strong people don’t need strong leaders.
Ella Baker
I have an everyday religion that works for me. Love yourself first, and everything else falls into line.
Lucille Ball (1911-1989, American actress, producer)
Love is to the moral nature what the sun is to the earth.
Honore De Balzac (1799-1850, French novelist)
The motto of chivalry is also the motto of wisdom; to serve all, but love only one.
Honore De Balzac (1799-1850, French novelist)
Do you want to know a good way to fall in love? Just associate with all your pleasant experiences with someone, and disassociate from all the unpleasant ones.
Richard Bandler (1950-, American therapist, co-founder of NLP)
I leave before being left. I decide.
Brigitte Bardot (1934-, French actress)
Love is just a system for getting someone to call you darling after sex.
Julian Barnes (1946-, British lexicographer, critic, editor)
Lovers should also have their days off.
Natalie Clifford Barney (1876-1972, American-born French author)
The advantage of love at first sight is that it delays a second sight.
Natalie Clifford Barney (1876-1972, American-born French author)
The fate of love is that it always seems too little or too much.
Amelia E. Barr (1831-1919, Anglo-American novelist)
If it is your time, love will track you down like a cruise missile.
Lynda Barry (1956-, American cartoonist, painter, essayist)
To try to write love is to confront the muck of language: that region of hysteria where language is both too much and too little, excessive and impoverished.
Roland Barthes (1915-1980, French semiologist)
Let us love others and let God make them good.
Marilyn A. Bass
Violence and love are nothing but the two sides of the same coin, life.
Carl William Brown (Educator and aphorist)
Naturally, love is the most distant possibility.
Georges Bataille (1897-1962, French novelist, critic)
The general rule is that people who enjoy life also enjoy marriage.
Phyllis Battelle
The greatest weakness of most humans is their hesitancy to tell others how much they love them while they’re still alive.
Orlando A. Battista
The greatest weakness of most humans is their hesitancy to tell others how much they love them while they’re still alive.
Orlando A. Battista
It is unfortunately very true that, without leisure and money, love can be no more than an orgy of the common man. Instead of being a sudden impulse full of ardor and reverie, it becomes a distastefully utilitarian affair.
Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867, French poet)
The lover of life makes the whole world into his family, just as the lover of the fair sex creates his from all the lovely women he has found, from those that could be found, and those who are impossible to find.
Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867, French poet)
What is irritating about love is that it is a crime that requires an accomplice.
Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867, French poet)
If you say, I love you, then you have already fallen in love with language, which is already a form of break up and infidelity.
Jean Baudrillard (French postmodern philosopher, writer)
To love someone is to isolate him from the world, wipe out every trace of him, dispossess him of his shadow, drag him into a murderous future. It is to circle around the other like a dead star and absorb him into a black light.
Jean Baudrillard (French postmodern philosopher, writer)
A woman who is loved always has success.
Vicki Baum (1888-1960, American writer)
When we understand that man is the only animal who must create meaning, who must open a wedge into neutral nature, we already understand the essence of love. Love is the problem of an animal who must find life, create a dialogue with nature in order to experience his own being.
Ernest Becker (1924-1974, American psychologist, cultural anthropologist)
I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887, American preacher, orator, writer)
Love is the river of life in the world.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887, American preacher, orator, writer)
Young love is a flame; very pretty, often very hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. The love of the older and disciplined heart is as coals, deep-burning, unquenchable.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887, American preacher, orator, writer)
Love ceases to be a pleasure, when it ceases to be a secret.
Aphra Behn (1640-1689, British playwright, poet)
In a world that holds books and babies and canyon trails, why should one condemn oneself to live day in, day out with people one does not like, and sell oneself to chaperone and correct them?
Ruth Benedict (1887-1948, American anthropologist)

Great quotes on love
Honor the ocean of love.
George De Benneville (1703-1793, French radical Christian)
I went back to being an amateur, in the sense of somebody who loves what she is doing. If a professional loses the love of work, routine sets in, and that’s the death of work and life.
Ada Bethune
Next to God we are indebted to women, first for life itself, and then for making it worth living.
Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955, American educator)
True and profound artistic creation comes from pain, only those who have suffered enormously in fact know the real value of love.
Carl William Brown (Educator and aphorist)
Without faith, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.
Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955, American educator)
It is sometimes the man who opens the door who is the last to enter the room.
Elizabeth Bibesco
Love is said to be blind, but I know some fellows in love who can see twice as much in their sweethearts as I do.
Josh Billings (1815-1885, American humorist, lecturer)
Love seeketh not itself to please, nor for itself hath any care, but for another gives its ease, and builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.
William Blake (1757-1827, British poet, painter)
Love is the immortal flow of energy that nourishes, extends and preserves. Its eternal goal is life.
Smiley Blanton (1882-1966, American author)
Love matches are made by people who are content, for a month of honey, to condemn themselves to a life of vinegar.
Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington (1789-1849, Irish writer and socialite)
When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and bring joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.
Jean Shinoda Bolen (American medical doctor)
Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but what foundation did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821, French general, emperor)
The only victory over love is flight.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821, French general, emperor)
To fall in love is to create a religion that has a fallible god.
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986, Argentinean author)
Where there is laughter there is always more health than sickness.
Phyllis Bottome (1884-1963, American writer)
A proof that experience is of no use, is that the end of one love does not prevent us from beginning another.
Paul Bourget (1852-1935, French novelist)
Our first and last love is… self-love.
John Christian Bovee (1820-1904, American author, lawyer)
I can’t see or feel the conflict between love and religion. To me, they’re the same thing.
Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973, Anglo-Irish novelist)
Pity the selfishness of lovers: it is brief, a forlorn hope; it is impossible.
Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973, Anglo-Irish novelist)
The more helpless people become, the more books on love multiply.
Carl William Brown (Educator and aphorist)
When you love someone all your saved-up wishes start coming out.
Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973, Anglo-Irish novelist)
If I place love above everything, it is because for me it is the most desperate, the most despairing state of affairs imaginable.
Andre Breton (1989-1966, French surrealist)
If I place love above everything, it is because for me it is the most desperate, the most despairing state of affairs imaginable.
Andre Breton (1989-1966, French surrealist)
When love is out of your life, you’re through in a way. Because while it is there it’s like a motor that’s going, you have such vitality to do things, big things, because love is goosing you all the time.
Fanny Brice (1891-1951, American entertainer)
When first we met we did not guess that Love would prove so hard a master.
Robert Bridges (1844-1930, British poet)
All the little emptiness of love!
Rupert Brooke (1887-1915, British poet)
Infinite hungers leap no more I in the chance swaying of your dress; and love has changed to kindliness.
Rupert Brooke (1887-1915, British poet)
A man can go from being a lover to being a stranger in three moves flat but a woman under the guise of friendship will engage in acts of duplicity which come to light very much later. There are different species of self-justification.
Anita Brookner (1938-, British novelist, art historian)
Real love is a pilgrimage. It happens when there is no strategy, but it is very rare because most people are strategists.
Anita Brookner (1938-, British novelist, art historian)
A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success.
Dr. Joyce Brothers (1927-, American psychologist, television and radio personality)
When you come right down to it, the secret of having it all is loving it all.
Dr. Joyce Brothers (1927-, American psychologist, television and radio personality)
The white light streams down to be broken up by those human prisms into all the colors of the rainbow. Take your own color in the pattern and be just that.
Charles R. Brown
Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.
Charlie Brown (Peanuts comic strip character)
Don’t worry about growing older or pleasing others. Please yourself.