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LOVE - PAGE 1 (A-L)

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see: "HEARTS, HEARTBREAK"
see: "HAPPINESS"
see: "KINDNESS"
see: "LOVE & MARRIAGE (OR NOT)"
see: "MEN & WOMEN"


The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something
to do, something to love, and something to hope for.
--Joseph Addison (1672—1719)
English essayist, poet, and dramatist.
Quoted in Tryon Edwards _A Dictionary of Thoughts_, p. 217 [1908 ed.].

Love is a great beautifier.
--Louisa May Alcott (1832—1888)
American novelist; daughter of Amos Bronson Alcott.
_Little Women_ Part 2 [1869]

-

[Boris Grushenko (Woody Allen), responding
to 'Sex without love is an empty experience:]
Yes, but —as empty experiences go — it's one of the best!
--Woody Allen [Allen Stewart Konigsberg] (b. 1935)
American actor, screenwriter, and director.
"Love and Death" [1975 film]


[Holly Reed (Mia Farrow) speaking:]
My ex-husband and I fell in love at first sight.
Maybe I should have taken a second look.
--Woody Allen [Allen Stewart Konigsberg] (b. 1935)
American actor, screenwriter, and director.
"Crimes & Misdemeanors" [1989 film]


The only love that lasts is unrequited love.
--Woody Allen [Allen Stewart Konigsberg] (b. 1935)
American actor, screenwriter, and director.
Dialogue in "Shadows and Fog" [1991 film].

-

Sex is a momentary itch,
Love never lets you go.
--Sir Kingsley Amis (1922—1995)
English novelist, poet, critic, and father of Martin Amis
In _Collected Poems, 1944-1979_ [1980].

If I ever find a pitcher who has heat, a good curve, and
a slider, I might seriously consider marrying him, or at
least proposing.
--attributed to Sparky [George Lee] Anderson (1934—2010)
American baseball player (one year) and manager; elected to the Hall of Fame in 2000.

Our entire life [...] consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are.
--Jean [-Marie-Lucien-Pierre] Anouilh (1910—1987)
French playwright.
_Le voyageur sans bagage_ (The Traveller Without Luggage) [1937]

A man can hide all things excepting twain —
That he is drunk, and that he is in love.
--Antiphanes (fl. early 4th cent. B.C.)
Greek comic poet.
As quoted in _Notes and Queries_ [23 July 1904].

-

The worst things:
To try to sleep and sleep not.
To wait for one who comes not.
To try to please and please not.
--Arabian Proverb

& see:

The worst things:
To have felt a love and not to have shown it,
To have had it all and not to have known it.
--Joy Huott

-

-

I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,
I'll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.
--W.H. [Wystan Hugh] Auden (1907—1973)
English-born poet and man of letters,
"As I Walked Out One Evening" [1940]


Among those whom I like, I can find no common
denominator, but among those whom I love, I can:
all of them make me laugh.
--W.H. [Wystan Hugh] Auden (1907—1973)
English-born poet and man of letters.
_The Dyer's Hand_ [1962], "Notes on the Comic"


Money cannot buy
the fuel of Love,
but is excellent kindling.
--W.H. [Wystan Hugh] Auden (1907—1973)
English-born poet and man of letters.
_Forewords and Afterwords_ [1973]

-

It is impossible to love and to be wise.
--Francis Bacon (1561—1626)
English philosopher and essayist.
_Essays_ [1625] "Of Love"

I cannot love as I have loved,
And yet I know not why;
It is the one great woe of life
To feel all feeling die.
--Philip James Bailey (1816—1902)
English poet.
_Festus_ [1839]

Words of affection, howso'er express'd,
The latest spoken still are deem'd the best.
--Joanna Baillie (1762—1851)
Scottish poet and dramatist.
"Address to Miss Agnes Baillie on Her Birthday"

Everything in life depends on how that life accepts its limits.
--James Baldwin (1924—1987)
American author and playwright.
_Nobody Knows My Name_ [1961]

But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and
flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near
you; in the gladdest days and the darkest nights ... always,
always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it
shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing
temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah, do not
mourn me dead: think I am gone and wait for me, for
we shall meet again.
--Major Sullivan Ballou (1827—1861)
Union Army; killed during the First Battle of Bull Run,
letter to his wife written 7 days before he was killed.

-

Love is perhaps no more than gratitude for pleasure.
--Honorι de Balzac (1799—1850)
French journalist and writer.
_Le Pθre Goriot_ (Father Goriot or Old Goriot) [1834-35]


When women love us, they forgive us everything, even our
crimes; when they do not love us, they give us credit for
nothing, not even for our virtues.
--Honorι de Balzac (1799—1850)
French journalist and writer.
Attributed in J. De Finod (ed.)
_A Thousand Flashes of French Wit ..._, p. 179 [1880].

-

Love cannot endure indifference. It needs to be wanted.
Like a lamp, it needs to be fed out of the oil of another's
heart, or its flame burns low.
--Henry Ward Beecher (1813—1887)
American Congregational minister; brother of
Harriet Beecher Stowe, son of Lyman Beecher.
_Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit_ [1887], as quoted in Anna
Lydia Ward (ed.) _A Dictionary of Quotations in Prose_ [1889].

Call no man foe, but never love a stranger.
--Stella Benson (1892—1933)
English novelist and poet.
_This Is the End_ [1917]

They say falling in love is wonderful,
It's wonderful, so they say.
--Irving Berlin (1888—1989)
American songwriter.
"They Say It's Wonderful", song written for
the musical "Annie Get Your Gun" [1946].

Which of the powers, love or music, is able to lift man to the
sublimest heights? It is a great question, but it seems to me
that one might answer it thus: love cannot express the idea
of music, while music may give an idea of love. But why
separate them? They are the two wings of the soul.
--Louis Hector Berlioz (1803—1869)
French composer.
_Memoires_ [1870]

Hell, Madame, is to love no longer.
--Georges Bernanos (1888—1948)
French novelist and esssayist.
_Diary of a Country Priest _ [1936]

-

Greater love hath no man than this, that
a man lay down his life for his friends.
--Bible
"John" 15:13


Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it
does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it
is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it
keeps no record of wrongs.
--Bible
"Corinthians" 13:4-5 NIV


Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always
perseveres. Love never fails.
--Bible
"Corinthians" 13:6-8 NIV

-

Love: a temporary insanity, curable by marriage.
--Ambrose Bierce (1842—1914)
American newspaperman, wit, and satirist.
_The Cynic's Word Book_ [1906]
(Retitled in 1911 as _The Devil's Dictionary_.)

Love looks through a telescope; envy, through a microscope.
--Josh Billings [Henry Wheeler Shaw] (1818—1885)
American humorist.
_The Complete Works of Josh Billings_ [pub. M.A. Donohue, 1919]

One simple, passionate kiss
Can alter earth for ever.
--Laurence Binyon (1869—1943)
English poet.
"Westward", lines 173-4

There's a vaporish maiden in Harrison
Who longed for the love of a Saracen,
But she had to confine her
Intent to a Shriner,
Who suffers, I fear, by comparison.
--Morris Bishop (1893—1973)
American linguist and writer of light verse.
In the "New Yorker" [1936].

Please fence me in baby the world's too big
out here and I don't like it without you.
--Humphrey Bogart (1899—1957)
American actor.
Telegram to Lauren Bacall;
in Lauren Bacall's _All By Myself_ [1978].

I once asked a distinguished artist what place he gave to
labor in art. 'Labor,' he in effect said, 'is the beginning,
the middle, and the end of art.' Turning then to another
— 'And you,' I inquired, 'what do you consider as the
great force in art?' 'Love,' he replied. In their two
answers I found but one truth.
--Christian Nestell Bovee (1820—1904)
American writer.
_Intuitions and Summaries of Thought_, vol 2, p. 5 [2 vols., 1862]

Those who have some means think that the most
important thing in the world is love. The poor know
that it is money.
--Gerald Brenan (1894—1987)
British travel writer and novelist.
_Thoughts in a Dry Season: A Miscellany_ [1978]

-

So sweet love seemed that April morn.
When first we kissed beside the thorn,
So strangely sweet, it was not strange
We thought that love could never change.

But I can tell — let truth be told —
That love will change in growing old;
Though day by day is nought to see,
So delicate his motions be.

--Robert Seymour Bridges (1844—1930)
English poet.
"So Sweet Love Seemed", l. 1

-

The best proof of love is trust.
--attributed to Dr. Joyce Brothers [Joyce Diane Bauer] (b. 1927)
American psychologist and advice columnist.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach.
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806—1861)
English poet.
_Sonnets from the Portuguese_, 43 [1850]

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made.
--Robert Browning (1812—1889)
English poet.
"Rabbi Ben Ezra" [1864]

You should have fallen in love with a happy man,
if you wanted happiness. But no, you had to fall
for the breathtaking beauty of pain.
--Lois McMaster Bujold (b. 1949)
American science fiction author.
_Cordelia's Honor_ [1999]

But to see her was to love her,
Love but her, and love for ever.
--Robert Burns (1759—1796)
Scottish poet and songwriter.
"Ae Fond Kiss" [1791]

Don't hold to anger, hurt or pain. They steal
your energy and keep you from love.
--attributed to Leo [Felice Leonardo] Buscaglia (1925—1998)
American professor and author of inspirational books.

-

-

Absence is to love what wind is to a fire;
It extinguishes the small, it kindles the great.
--Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy (1618—1693)
French soldier and poet.
_Histoire amoureuse des Gaules_ [1660]

& note:

Absence diminishes mediocre passions and
increases great ones, as the wind blows out
candles and fans fire.
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.
_Reflections; or, Sentences and Moral Maxims_, maxim 276 [1678]

-

-

'Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark
Our coming, and look brighter when we come.
--Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron] (1788—1824)
English Romantic poet and satirist.
_Don Juan_, canto I, st. 123 [1819]


Man's love is of man's life a thing apart,
'Tis woman's whole existence.
--Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron] (1788—1824)
English Romantic poet and satirist.
"Don Juan", canto I, st. 194 [1819]


Men love in haste, but they detest at leisure.
--Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron] (1788—1824)
English Romantic poet and satirist.
"Don Juan" canto XIII, st. 6 [1823]

-

-

Be my love, for no one else can end this yearning;
This need that you and you alone create.
Just fill my arms the way you've filled my dreams,
The dreams that you inspire with ev'ry sweet desire.

Be my love, and with your kisses set me burning;
One kiss is all that I need to seal my fate,
And, hand-in-hand, we'll find love's promised land.
There'll be no one but you for me, eternally,
If you will be my love.

--Sammy Cahn (1913—1993)
American songwriter.
"Be My Love" from the film _The Toast of New Orleans_ [1950]
Music by Nicholas Brodszky.

-

When I see the Ten Most Wanted lists I
always have this thought: If we'd made
them feel wanted earlier, they wouldn't
be wanted now.
--attributed to Eddie Cantor (1882—1964)
American comedian, actor, singer, and songwriter.

What woman says to fond lover should
be written on air or the swift water.
--Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 84 BC – c. 54 BC)
Latin poet.
"Carmina", LXX. 3, as quoted in Kate Louise Roberts
_Hoyt's New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations_, p. 466 [1922].

-

Absence, that common cure of love.
--Miguel de Cervantes (1547—1616)
Spanish novelist.
"Don Quixote de la Mancha" pt I, bk. 3, ch. 10 [1605]


There's no love lost between us.
--Miguel de Cervantes (1547—1616)
Spanish novelist.
"Don Quixote de la Mancha" pt. II, bk. 3, ch. 33 [1615]
Note: At the time the term was used in a *positive* sense.

-

None ever loved, but at first sight they loved.
--George Chapman (c. 1559—1634)
English playwright.
_The Blind Beggar of Alexandria_ [1596]

Love is blind.
--Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343—1400)
English poet.
_The Canterbury Tales_ [c. 1387] "The Merchant's Tale"

They have invented a phrase, a phrase that is a black and
white contradiction in two words — 'free-love' — as if a
love ever had been, or ever could be, free. It is the nature
of love to bind itself, and the institution of marriage merely
paid the average man the compliment of taking him at his
word.
--G.K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton (1874—1936)
English essayist, novelist, and poet.
_The Defendant_ [1902] "A Defence of Rash Vows"

Love is the word used to label the sexual excitement
of the young, the habituation of the middle-aged,
and the mutual dependence of the old.
--John Ciardi (1916—1986)
American poet, translator, and etymologist.
Quoted in Maurice Lamm _The Jewish Way in Love & Marriage_ [1979].

We shall find no fiend in hell can match the fury of a disappointed
woman,— scorned, slighted, dismissed without a parting pang.
--Colley Cibber (1671—1757)
English actor and playwright.
_Love's Last Shift_ [1696]

When a man of forty falls in love with a girl of twenty,
it isn't her youth he is seeking but his own.
--Lenore Coffee (1897—1984)
American screenwriter.
_Storyline; Recollections of a Hollywood Screenwriter_ [1973]

Be still, my beating heart, be still!
--Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861—1907)
English poet.
"All One" [1910]

Friendship often ends in love;
but love in friendship — never.
--C.C. Colton (1780—1832)
English clergyman and writer.
Attributed in James Wood _Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient
and Modern English and Foreign Sources_, p. 108 [1899].

Heav'n has no Rage like Love to Hatred turn'd,
Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd.
--William Congreve (1670—1729)
English dramatist.
"The Mourning Bride", III, viii [1697]

Kisses kept are wasted;
Love is to be tasted.
There are some you love, I know;
Be not loathe to tell them so.
Lips go dry and eyes grow wet
Waiting to be warmly met.
Keep them not in waiting yet;
Kisses kept are wasted.
--Edmund Vance Cooke (1866—1932)
Canadian poet.
"Kisses Kept Are Wasted" in _Little Songs for Two_ [1909].

Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your
hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell.
--Joan Crawford [Lucille Fay LeSueur] (1904—1977)
American actress.
Quoted in "Coronet" (mag.) [1944].

Then come the wild weather, come sleet or come snow,
We will stand by each other; however it blow.
Oppression, and sickness, and sorrow, and pain
Shall be to our true love as links to the chain.
--Simon Dach (1605—1659)
German lyrical poet and writer of hymns.
"Annie of Tharaw", trans. by Henry W. Longfellow
and published in Graham's Magazine [1943].

Everyone says that looks don't matter, age doesn't matter,
money doesn't matter. But I never met a girl yet who has
fallen in love with an old ugly man who's broke.
--attributed to Rodney Dangerfield [Jacob Cohen] (1921—2004)
American comedian.

Age is like love, it cannot be hid.
--Thomas Dekker (c. 1572—1632)
English dramatist and writter of prose pamphlets of London life.
_The Pleasant Comedy of Old Fortunatus_ [c. 1598]

-

The magic of first love is our ignorance that it can ever end.
--Benjamin Disraeli (1804—1881)
British Tory statesman, novelist, and Prime Minister [1868, 1874—1880].
_Henrietta Temple_ [1837]


The affections are the children of ignorance; when
the horizon of our experience expands, and models
multiply, love and admiration imperceptibly vanish.
--Benjamin Disraeli (1804—1881)
British Tory statesman, novelist, and Prime Minister [1868, 1874—1880].
_Coningsby_, ch. XV [1844]

-

-

Love built on beauty, soon as beauty, dies.
--John Donne (1572—1631)
English poet and dean of St. Paul's [1621—1631].
_Elegies_ "The Anagram" (c. 1595]


Come live with me, and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks,
With silken lines, and silver hooks.
--John Donne (1572-1631)
English poet and dean of St. Paul's [1621—1631].
"The Bait" in _Songs and Sonnets_ [1611].

-

Parting is worse than death; it is death of love!
--John Dryden (1631—1700)
English poet, critic, and dramatist.
Attributed in Maturin M. Ballou _Treasury of Thought_, p. 379 [10th ed. 1884].

-

At long last I am able to say a few words of my own. I have never
wanted to withhold anything, but until now it has not been
constitutionally possible for me to speak.

A few hours ago I discharged my last duty as King and Emperor,
and now that I have been succeeded by my brother, The Duke of
York, my first words must be to declare my allegiance to him. This
I do with all my heart.

You all know the reasons which have impelled me to renounce the
Throne. But I want you to understand that in making up my mind I
did not forget the country or the Empire which as Prince of Wales,
and lately as King, I have for twenty-five years tried to serve. But
you must believe me when I tell you that I have found it impossible
to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my
duties as King as I would wish to do without the help and support
of the woman I love.

--Edward VIII (1894—1972)
King [1936], afterwards, the Duke of Windsor.
Radio broadcast following his abdication [11 December 1936].

-

-

Love has a way of cheating itself consciously, like a child who
plays at solitary hide-and-seek; it is pleased with assurances
that it all the while disbelieves.
--George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans] (1819—1880)
English novelist.
_Adam Bede_, ch. XI [1859]


Young love-making — that gossamer web! Even the
points it clings to — the things whence its subtle
interlacings are swung — are scarcely perceptible:
momentary touches of finger-tips, meetings of rays
from blue and dark orbs, unfinished phrases, lightest
changes of cheek and lip, faintest tremors. The web
itself is made of spontaneous beliefs and indefinable
joys, yearnings of one life towards another, visions
of completeness, indefinite trust.
--George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans] (1819—1880)
English novelist.
_Middlemarch_ [1871-72]


I like not only to be loved, but to be told that
I am loved. ... The realm of silence is large
enough beyond the grave.
--George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans] (1819—1880)
English novelist.
Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, as quoted by JW Cross (her husband) in
_George Eliot's Life as Related in Her Letters and Journals_ [3 vol. 1885].

-

[J]ealousy, that dragon which slays love
under the pretence of keeping it alive.
--Havelock Ellis (1859—1939)
English essayist and psychologist.
_Little Essays of Love and Virtue_, ch. 4 "Husbands and Wives" [1922]

Love that has nothing but beauty to
keep it in good health is short-lived.
--Desiderius Erasmus (1469—1536)
Dutch humanist and theologian.
Attributed in John Timbs
_Laconics: Or, The Best Words of the Best Authors_, p. 210 [1829].

All right. I may have lied to you and about you, and
made a few pronouncements a bit too sweeping,
perhaps, and possibly forgotten to tag the bases
here or there,
And damned your extravagance, and maligned your
tastes, and libeled your relatives, and slandered a
few of your friends,
O.K.,
Nevertheless, come back.
--Kenneth Fearing (1902—1961)
American poet.
"Love 20’ the First Quarter Mile"

Where there's marriage without love,
there will be love without marriage.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.
_Poor Richard's Almanack_ [May 1734]

Love makes time pass; time makes love pass.
--French Proverb

-

Love is often nothing but a favorable exchange between two
people who get the most of what they can expect, considering
their value on the personality market.
--Erich Fromm (1900—1980)
American philosopher and psychologist.
_The Sane Society_, ch. 5 [1955]


Immature love says: "I love you because I need you."
Mature love says: "I need you because I love you."
--Erich Fromm (1900—1980)
American philosopher and psychologist.
_The Art of Loving_ [1956]

-

You don't have to deserve your mother's love.
You have to deserve your father's. He's more
particular.
--Robert Frost (1874—1963)
American poet.
In George Plimpton _Writers at Work: The Paris
Review Interviews; Second Series_, p. 25 [1963].

Have you ever been in love? Horrible, isn't it? It makes you
so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart
and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you
up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole
suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid
person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders
into your stupid life … you give them a piece of you. They
didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like
kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own
anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats
you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple
a phrase like "maybe we should be just friends" or "how
very perceptive" turns into a glass splinter working its way
into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not
just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-
rips-you-apart pain. Nothing should be able to do that.
Especially not love. I hate love.
--Neil Gaiman (b. 1960)
English science fiction author.
"Rose Walker", in _Sandman_ #65:
"The Kindly Ones: 9", (Wikiquote)

The law of love could be best understood
and learned through little children.
--Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869—1948)
Indian statesman and leader of the nationalistic movement against British rule.
In Richard Attenborough's _The Words of Gandhi_ [1982], "Daily Life".

In the silence of night I have often wished for
just a few words of love from one man, rather
than the applause of thousands of people.
--Judy Garland [Frances Gumm] (1922—1969)
American motion-picture singer and actress.
Attributed in Barbara Rowes _The Book of Quotes_ [1979].

[Upon first seeing his future wife, Caroline of Brunswick:]
Harris, I am not well; pray get me a glass of brandy.
--King George IV (1762—1830)
King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland [1820—1830].
In _Diaries And Correspondence Of James Harris, First Earl Of
Malmesbury_, edited by his grandson, the Third Earl [1844].

-

Embrace me,
My sweet embraceable you.
Embrace me,
You irreplaceable you.
Just one look at you—my heart grew tipsy in me;
You and you alone bring out the gypsy in me.
I love all
The many charms about you;
Above all,
I want my arms about you.
Don't be a naughty baby,
Come to papa--come to papa--do!
My sweet embraceable you.
--Ira Gershwin (1896—1983)
American songwriter.
"Embraceable You" [1930 song] from the show
_Girl Crazy_ w/music by George Gershwin.


[...] They're writing songs of love,
But not for me;
A lucky star's above,
But not for me.
With love to lead the way,
I've found more clouds of gray
Than any Russian play
Could guarantee.
I was a fool to fall
And get that way;
Heigh hot Alas! and al-
So lackaday!
Love ain't done right by Nell;
However-what the hell!
I guess he's not for me.

Refrain 2

He's knocking on a door,
But not for me;
He'll plan a two by four,
But not for me.
I've heard that love's a game;
I'm puzzled, just the same -
Was I the moth or flame ... ?
I'm all at sea.
It started off so swell,
This 'Let's Pretend';
It all began so well;
But what an end!
The climax of a plot
Should be the marriage knot,
But there's no knot for me.

--Ira Gershwin (1896—1983)
American songwriter.
"But Not For Me" [1930 song] from the show
_Girl Crazy_ w/music by George Gershwin.


In time the Rockies may crumble,
Gibraltar may tumble,
They're only made of clay,
But, our love is here to stay.
--Ira Gershwin (1896—1983)
American songwriter.
"Our Love is Here to Stay" [1938 song w/music by George Gershwin]

-

The most important things to say are those which often
I did not think necessary for me to say — because they
were too obvious.
--Andrι Gide (1869—1951)
French novelist and critic; awarded Nobel Prize for Literature in 1947.
_The Journals of Andrι Gide: 1914—1927_ [23 August 1926]

A happy life is one spent in learning, earning, and yearning.
--Lillian Gish (1896—1993)
American stage and movie actress.
In _Esquire_ [1969] as quoted in Larry Chang _Wisdom for the Soul:
Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing_, p. 354 [2006].

Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a confusion
of the real with the ideal never goes unpunished.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749—1832)
German poet, novelist, and playwright.
Attributed in Laurence J. Peter _The Peter Prescription_ [1972].

Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then
suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At
night, the ice weasels come.
--Matt Groening (b. 1954)
American cartoonist, creator of "The Simpsons."
Quoted in "L.A. Times" [14 February 1991].

What love is, if thou wouldst be taught,
Thy heart must teach alone--
Two souls with but a single thought,
Two hearts that beat as one.
--Friedrich Halm (1806—1871)
German dramatist.
"Der Sohn der Wildnis" [1842]

Fish got to swim and birds got to fly,
I got to love one man till I die —
Can't help lovin' dat man of mine.
--Oscar Hammerstein II (1895—1960)
American songwriter.
"Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man"
[song from the 1927 play "Showboat".]
(Music by Jerome Kern.)

Love is a series of darlings and dearies,
Of honeys and sweeties and sugared entreaties.
Of moonings, and swoonings, and cooings and billings,
All tempered, of course, by occasional killings.
--E.Y. "Yip" Harburg [Isidore Hochberg] (1896—1981)
American songwriter.
_Rhymes for the Irreverent_ [1965]

There is no regular path for getting out of love
as there is for getting in. Some people look
upon marriage as a short cut that way, but it
has been known to fail.
--Thomas Hardy (1840—1928)
English novelist and poet.
_Far from the Madding Crowd_ [1874]

Love causes more pain than pleasure. Pleasure is only
illusory. Reason would command us to avoid love, if
it were not for the fatal sexual impulse - therefore it
were best to be castrated.
--Karl von Hartmann (1842—1906)
German metaphysical philosopher.
_Philosophe des Unbewursten_ [1869]

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—1864)
American novelist and short-story writer.
Spring, 1853 entry in "American Note-Books" published
in _The Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne_, vol. 9 [1883].

I will show you a love potion without drug or herb,
or any witch's spell; if you wish to be loved, love.
--Hecato (6th century BC)
Greek Stoic philosopher, _Fragments_

If You Can't Live Without Me, Why Aren't You Dead Yet?
--Cynthia Heimel (b. 1947)
American playwright and author.
Title of book [1991]

It is better, in some respects, to be admired by those
with whom you live than to be loved by them. And
this, not on account of any gratification of vanity,
but because admiration is so much more tolerant
than love.
--Sir Arthur Helps (1813—1875)
English writer and clerk of the Privy Council.
_Brevia: Short Essays and Aphorisms_ [1871]

Every man as he loveth, quoth the
good man when he kissed the cow.
--John Heywood (1497—1580)
English playwright.
_Dialogue of Proverbs_ [1546]

If I were to choose among all gifts and qualities that which,
on the whole, makes life pleasantest, I should select the
love of children. No circumstance can render this world
wholly a solitude to one who has this possession.
--Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1823—1911)
American abolitionist and writer.
"The Shadow" pub. in _The Atlantic Monthly_ [July 1870].

A woman in love is a very poor judge of character.
--Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819—1881)
American novelist, poet, and editor of "Scribner’s Magazine."
Lesson XIII "Repose" in _Lessons in Life_
by Timothy Titcomb (pseud.) [10th ed. 1862].

Gentlemen, to the lady without whom I should never
have survived to eighty, nor sixty, nor yet thirty years.
Her smile has been my lyric, her understanding the
rhythm of the stanza. She has been the spring where
from I have drawn the words. She is the poem of
my life.
--attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841—1935)
Justice of the United States Supreme Court,
legal historian, and philosopher.

The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that
of cannon, but its echo lasts a great deal
longer.
--Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809—1894)
American physician, poet, and essayist.
_The Professor at the Breakfast Table_ [1860]

-

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
'Give pounds and crowns and guineas,
But not your heart away;
Give pearls away and rubies
But keep your fancy free.'
But I was one-and-twenty,
No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
'The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
'Tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue.'
And I am two-and-twenty,
And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

--A.E. [Alfred Edward] Houseman (1859—1936)
English classical scholar and poet.
"One-and-Twenty" in _The Academy Supplement_ [20 August 1898].

-

Who hath not saved some trifling thing
More prized than jewels rare,
A faded flower, a broken ring,
A tress of golden hair.
--Ellen C. Howarth [aka Clementine] (1827—1899)
American poet.
_'Tis but a Little Faded Flower_ [1860]

I don't see why, when it comes to falling in love, a
man shouldn't fall in love with a rich girl as easily
as a poor one.
--William Dean Howells (1837—1920)
American novelist and critic.
_The Rise of Silas Lapham_, ch. 5 [1885]

I'll believe it when girls of twenty with money
marry male paupers, turned sixty.
--Elbert Hubbard (1859—1915)
American editor, publisher, and author who
died in the sinking of the "Lusitania."
_The Roycroft Dictionary and Book of Epigrams_ [1923]

-

Just because I loves you—
That's de reason why
Ma soul is full of color
Like the wings of a butterfly.

Just because I loves you
That's de reason why
My heart's a fluttering aspen leaf
When you pass by.

--Langston Hughes (1902—1967)
American writer and poet.
"Reasons Why" (complete poem) [1922]

-

-

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that
we are loved — loved for ourselves, or rather, loved
in spite of ourselves.
--Victor Hugo (1802—1885)
French poet, dramatist, and novelist.
_Les Misιrables_, "Saint Denis," bk V, ch. 4 [1862]


I met in the street a very poor young man who
was in love. His hat was old, his coat was
threadbare — there were holes at his elbows;
the water passed through his shoes and the
stars through his soul.
--Victor Hugo (1802—1885)
French poet, dramatist, and novelist.
_Les Misιrables_, "Saint Denis," bk. V, ch. 4 [1862]


The first symptom of true love in a young man is timidity,
in a girl it is boldness. The two sexes have a tendency to
approach, and each assumes the qualities of the other.
--Victor Hugo (1802—1885)
French poet, dramatist, and novelist.
Attributed in Louis Klopsch _Many Thoughts of Many Minds_, p. 164 [1896].

-

Love blinds us to faults, hatred to virtues.
--Moses Ibn Ezra (1060?—1138?)
Spanish philosopher and poet.
Attributed in Sidney Greenberg
_A Treasury of the Art of Living_, p. 120 [1963].

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal;
Love leaves a memory no one can steal.
--from a headstone in Ireland.

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife
the best, but his mother the longest.
--Irish proverb

Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where
power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is
the shadow of the other.
--Carl Gustav Jung (1875—1961)
Swiss psychologist.
_The Psychology of the Unconscious_ [1943]

-

It had to be you,
It had to be you,
I wandered around
And finally found
The somebody who
Could make me be true,
Could make me blue,
And even be glad
Just to be sad,
Thinking of you.

Some others I've seen
Might never be mean,
Might never be cross
Or try to be boss,
But they wouldn't do.
For nobody else
Gave me a thrill,
With all your faults
I love you still,
It had to be you,
Wonderful you,
It had to be you.

--Gus Kahn (1886—1941)
German-born American songwriter.
"It Had To Be You" [1924 song]
(Music by Isham Jones.)

-

-

Never cease loving a person, and never give up hope for
him, for even the prodigal son who had fallen most low,
could still be saved; the bitterest enemy and also he who
was your friend could again be your friend; love that has
grown cold can kindle again.
--Sφren Kierkegaard (1813—1855)
Danish philosopher.
_Works of Love_ (Kjerlighedens Gjerninger) [1847]


But he who cannot reveal himself cannot love, and
he who cannot love is most unfortunate of all.
--Sφren Kierkegaard (1813—1855)
Danish philosopher.
Quoted in Walter Lowrie _Kierkegaard_, p. 81 [1938].

-

I suppose that every parent loves his child; but I know without any
supposing, that in a large number of homes the love is hidden behind
authority, or its expression is crowded out by daily duties and cares.
--Abbott E. Kittredge (1834—1912)
English clergyman.
Attributed in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert
_Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers_, p. 442 [1895].

[Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) speaking:]
Oh, no. It wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.
--"King Kong" [1933 film]
Screenplay by James Creelman and Ruth Rose.

A heart once poisoned by suspicion has no longer room for love.
--August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue (1761—1819)
German dramatist.
Quoted in _Marriage in Epigram_, p. 193 [1903].

-

The beginning and the end of love are both marked by
embarrassment when the two find themselves alone.
--Jean de La Bruyθre (1645—1696)
French essayist and moralist.
_Les Caractθres_, IV [1688]


Time, which strengthens Friendships, weakens Love.
--Jean de La Bruyθre (1645—1696)
French essayist and moralist.
_Les Caractθres_, ch. IV [1688]


A lovely countenance is the fairest of all sights, and the sweetest
harmony is the sound of the voice of her whom we love.
--Jean de La Bruyθre (1645—1696)
French essayist and moralist.
Attributed in Maturin M. Ballou _Notable Thoughts About Women_, p. 31 [1882].

-

-

There is no disguise that can for long conceal love
where it exists or simulate it where it does not.
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.
_Maxims_, # 70 [1665]


In jealousy there is more self-love than love.
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.
_Maxims_, #324 [1665]

-

If you want something very, very badly, let it go free.
If it comes back to you, it's yours forever. If it doesn't,
it was never yours to begin with.
--anon., popularized in Jess Lair
_I Ain't Much Baby—But I'm All I Got_, ch. 20 [1974].

And he give her a look that you could pour on a waffle.
--Ring Lardner [Ringgold Wilmer Lardner] (1885—1933)
American writer and satirist.
_The Big Town_ [1920]

-

Freddy:

I have often walked down this street before;
But the pavement always stayed beneath my feet before.
All at once am I
Several stories high.
Knowing I'm on the street where you live.
Are there lilac trees in the heart of town?
Can you hear a lark in any other part of town?
Does enchantment pour
Out of ev'ry door?
No, it's just on the street where you live!
And oh! The towering feeling
Just to know somehow you are near.
The overpowering feeling
That any second you may suddenly appear!
People stop and stare. They don't bother me.
For there's no where else on earth that I would rather be.
Let the time go by,
I won't care if I
Can be here on the street where you live.

--Alan Jay Lerner (1918—1986)
American playwright and lyricist.
"On the Street Where You Live" from the 1956 play _My Fair Lady_.
(Music by Frederick Loewe.)

-

-

Do not waste time bothering whether you "love"
your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as
we do this we find one of the great secrets.

When you are behaving as if you loved someone,
you will presently come to love him. If you
injure someone you dislike, you will find
yourself disliking him more. If you do him a
good turn, you will find yourself disliking
him less.

--C.S. [Clive Staples] Lewis (1898—1963)
British scholar and novelist.
_Mere Christianity_, bk. 3, ch. 9 [1952]


Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung
and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping
it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to
an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little
luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the
casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket —
safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will
not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable,
irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.
--C.S. [Clive Staples] Lewis (1898—1963)
British scholar and novelist.
_The Four Loves_ [1960]

-

What is love? ... It is the morning and the evening star.
--Sinclair Lewis (1885—1951)
American novelist and playwright.
_Elmer Gantry_ [1927]

He who is enamored of himself will at least
have the advantage of being inconvenienced
by few rivals.
--Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742—1799)
German scientist and drama critic.
"Notebook H." aph. 10 (written 1765-99), as quoted in Robert
Andrews _The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations_ [1993].

Him that I love, I wish to be
Free—
Even from me.
--Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906—2001)
American writer and wife of Charles Lindbergh.
"Even—" [1956]

The emotion of love, in spite of the romantics,
is not self-sustaining; it endures when the lovers
love many things together, and not merely each
other.
--Walter Lippmann (1889—1974)
American journalist.
_A Preface to Morals_ [1929]

[I]t is folly to pretend that one ever wholly recovers
from a disappointed passion. Such wounds always
leave a scar. There are faces I can never look upon
without emotion, there are names I can never hear
spoken without almost starting.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882)
American poet.
_Hyperion_, Book the Second, ch. 3 [1839]

-

I could not love thee, Dear, so much.
Loved I not honor more.
--Richard Lovelace (1618—1657)
English poet.
"To Lucasta, Going to the Wars" l. 11 [1649]


If you find yourself unwilling to accept
me, will you please pass this letter on
to your sister Caroline.
--Lord Ralph Lovelace (1839—1906)
English writer, alpinist and linguist.
(Proposal letter to Mary Stuart Wortley, quoted
by Lady Wentworth in her Memoirs.)

-

Wer nicht liebt Weib, Wein und Gesang,
A Der bleibt ein Narr sein Leben lang.
(Who loves not wine, women, and song
Remains a fool his whole life long.)
--Martin Luther (1483—1546)
German Protestant theologian.
Inscribed in the Luther room in Wartburg.


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