Lou Andreas-Salome Quotes on Love
Lou Andreas-Salome was a Russian-born German writer, philosopher, and psychoanalyst, whose intimate intellectual companionship with Friedrich Nietzsche, Paul Ree, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Sigmund Freud placed her at the center of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century European thought. This page collects quotes attributed to Lou Andreas-Salome on the topic of love, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Lou Andreas-Salome:
“We are not the masters of our love; love is the master of us.”
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Attributed to Lou Andreas-Salome:
“Religion is the longing of the part for the whole, before any doctrine names it.”
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Attributed to Lou Andreas-Salome:
“The narcissism of the soul is the original form of its love of life.”
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“As truly as I'd love a friend, I always have loved you, riddling life, whether I've laughed with you or wept, whether you have brought me pleasure or strife. Even in your sorrow I love you, and, when you scatter me through space, I will tear myself out of your arms as a friend from a dear friend's embrace. With all my strength I cling to you! Let all your fire enkindle me. Even in the heat of battle, let me unravel your mysteries. Thousands of years to live and think! In your arms I long to remain. And, when you have no more joy to give -- very well -- you still have your pain.”
A Prayer to Life" (Lebensgebet), 1880; translation by Frank Beck, 2015