Philosopher Quotes on Love

Attributed to Emmanuel Levinas:

“The face of the Other commands me to responsibility.”

Attributed to Emmanuel Levinas:

“The face speaks to me and thereby invites me to a relation.”

Attributed to Emmanuel Levinas:

“The other is not me, and I am responsible for him.”

Attributed to Emmanuel Levinas:

“Religion is the bond between the same and the other without constituting a totality.”

Attributed to Emmanuel Levinas:

“The face of the other is the trace of the infinite.”

“All real living is meeting.”

Alles wirkliche Leben ist Begegnung.

“Through the Thou a person becomes I.”

I and Thou, 1923

“Every morning I shall concern myself anew about the boundary Between the love - deed -Yes and the power -deed-No And pressing forward honor reality . We cannot avoid Using power, Cannot escape the compulsion To afflict the world , So let us, cautious in diction And mighty in contradiction , Love powerfully.”

Power and Love" (1926)

“Power and Love" (1926)”

Every morning I shall concern myself anew about the boundary Between the love - deed -Yes and the power -deed-No And pressing forward honor reality . We cannot avoid Using power, Cannot escape the compulsion To afflict the world , So let us, cautious in diction And mighty in contradiction , Love powerfully.

Attributed to Martin Buber:

“When two people relate to each other authentically and humanly, God is the electricity that surges between them.”

“For those endowed with insight there is in reality no object of love but God, nor does anyone but He deserve love”

Love, Longing, Intimacy and Contentment . Islamic Texts Society. 2011. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-903682-27-2 . Translated with an introduction and notes by Eric Ormsby.

“Love, Longing, Intimacy and Contentment . Islamic Texts Society. 2011. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-903682-27-2 . Translated with an introduction and notes by Eric Ormsby.”

For those endowed with insight there is in reality no object of love but God, nor does anyone but He deserve love

“if man’s love for himself be necessary, then his love for Him through whom, first his coming-to-be, and second, his continuance in his essential being with all his inward and outward traits, his substance and his accidents, occur must also be necessary. Whoever is so besotted by his fleshy appetites as to lack this love neglects his Lord and Creator. He possesses no authentic knowledge of Him; his gaze is limited to his cravings and to things of sense.”

Al-Ghazali on Love, Longing, Intimacy & Contentment. Translated with an introduction and notes by Eric Ormsby. Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society (2011), p. 25.

“Al-Ghazali on Love, Longing, Intimacy & Contentment. Translated with an introduction and notes by Eric Ormsby. Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society (2011), p. 25.”

if man’s love for himself be necessary, then his love for Him through whom, first his coming-to-be, and second, his continuance in his essential being with all his inward and outward traits, his substance and his accidents, occur must also be necessary. Whoever is so besotted by his fleshy appetites as to lack this love neglects his Lord and Creator. He possesses no authentic knowledge of Him; his

Attributed to Al-Ghazali:

“Treat the people in such a way that if you die they should weep over you, and if you are alive they should crave for your company.”

“On a dark night, Kindled in love with yearnings — oh, happy chance ! — I went forth without being observed, My house being now at rest. In darkness and secure, By the secret ladder, disguised — oh, happy chance! — In darkness and in concealment, My house being now at rest.”

En una noche oscura, con ansias, en amores inflamada , ¡oh dichosa ventura!, salí sin ser notada, estando ya mi casa sosegada;

“One dark night, fired with love's urgent longings — ah, the sheer grace ! — I went out unseen, my house being now all stilled. In darkness, and secure, by the secret ladder, disguised, — ah, the sheer grace! — in darkness and concealment, my house being now all stilled. Variant translation by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (1991)”

En una noche oscura, con ansias, en amores inflamada , ¡oh dichosa ventura!, salí sin ser notada, estando ya mi casa sosegada;

“Upon a darkened night the flame of love was burning in my breast And by a lantern bright I fled my house while all in quiet rest. Shrouded by the night and by the secret stair I quickly fled. The veil concealed my eyes while all within lay quiet as the dead Variant adapted for music by Loreena McKennitt (1994)”

En una noche oscura, con ansias, en amores inflamada , ¡oh dichosa ventura!, salí sin ser notada, estando ya mi casa sosegada;

“Oh, night that guided me, Oh, night more lovely than the dawn, Oh, night that joined Beloved with lover, Lover transformed in the Beloved!”

O guiding night! O night more lovely than the dawn! O night that has united the Lover with his beloved, transforming the beloved in her Lover. Variant translation by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (1991) | Oh night thou was my guide Oh night more loving than the rising sun Oh night that joined the lover to the beloved one transforming each of them into the other. Variant adapted for music b

“O guiding night! O night more lovely than the dawn! O night that has united the Lover with his beloved, transforming the beloved in her Lover. Variant translation by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (1991)”

Oh, night that guided me, Oh, night more lovely than the dawn, Oh, night that joined Beloved with lover, Lover transformed in the Beloved!

“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

Revelations of Divine Love, Chapter 27

“Love was His meaning.”

Revelations of Divine Love, Chapter 86

“We are kept all as securely in Love in woe as in weal, by the Goodness of God.”

Wikiquote

“Our Lord Jesus sheweth in love His blissful heart even cloven in two, rejoicing.”

Wikiquote

Attributed to Julian of Norwich:

“The greatest honour we can give Almighty God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of His love.”

“I am the Truth.”

Ana al-Haqq

“Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis (1978) by Steven T. Katz, p. 92; four centuries later the Christian mystic Meister Eckhart would make a very similar assertion: "The eye with which I see God is the same with which God sees me. My eye and God's eye is one eye, and one sight , and one knowledge , and one love .”

I saw my Lord with the eye of my heart . He said, "Who are you?" I said, " I am You. " You are He Who fills all place But place does not know where You are. In my subsistence is my annihilation; In my annihilation, I remain You.

Attributed to Al-Hallaj:

“I have seen my Lord with the eye of my heart.”

Attributed to Al-Hallaj:

“Between me and Thee, there is only I; remove the I, and only Thou remains.”

Attributed to Al-Hallaj:

“Love is the closest companion of the seeker, even when it leads to the gallows.”

“The fire of divine love consumes all that is not love.”

Ch. IX

“I find in myself by the grace of God a satisfaction without nourishment, love without fear”

Wikiquote

“I am so submerged in the sweet fire of love that I cannot grasp anything except the whole of love, which melts all the marrow of my soul and body.”

Wikiquote

“I am so plunged and submerged in the source of his infinite love, as if I were quite underwater in the sea and could not touch, see, feel anything on any side except water”

Sally Kempton, Meditation for the Love of It: Enjoying Your Own Deepest Experience (2011), p. 227

“Sally Kempton, Meditation for the Love of It: Enjoying Your Own Deepest Experience (2011), p. 227”

I am so plunged and submerged in the source of his infinite love, as if I were quite underwater in the sea and could not touch, see, feel anything on any side except water

“The exalted moment of love is always full of promise: it is not closed in on itself, but open; we see its natural fruitfulness revealed in the child, even if its spiritual fruitfulness remains hidden.”

Wikiquote

“The inner reality of love can be recognized only by love.”

Wikiquote

Attributed to Hans Urs von Balthasar:

“The truly beautiful is what most fully reveals being.”

Attributed to Hans Urs von Balthasar:

“The form of beauty is the form of truth.”

Attributed to Hans Urs von Balthasar:

“Glory is what shines forth in love that gives itself away.”

“Suffering is the ancient law of love; there is no quest without pain; there is no lover who is not also a martyr.”

Quoted in Evelyn Underhill , Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man's Spiritual Consciousness (1912), p. 152

“An unloving heart can no more understand a love-filled speaker than a German an Italian.”

Quoted in Karl An unloving heart can no more understand a love-filled speaker than a German an Italian Bihlmeyer, Heinrich Seuse. Deutsche Schriften , Stuttgart 1907, p. 199

“Quoted in Karl An unloving heart can no more understand a love-filled speaker than a German an Italian Bihlmeyer, Heinrich Seuse. Deutsche Schriften , Stuttgart 1907, p. 199”

An unloving heart can no more understand a love-filled speaker than a German an Italian.

Attributed to Henry Suso:

“Eternal Wisdom is the bride of every faithful soul.”

Attributed to Henry Suso:

“He who has lost himself for God has found everything.”

“If I love God, I don't in this way pantheistically love the universe, or the animals, trees and shrubs as my fellow created beings, but rather I love in God precisely the Father of Humanity. And this higher meaning, this social significance, always has its terminus in God the Father. He is not so much the creator and author, but much more the protector and comforter of the poor. p. 81”

Wenn ich Gott liebe, so liebe ich nicht pantheistisch das Universum, nicht die Tiere, die Bäume und die Kräuter, als meine Mitgeschöpfe, sondern aber ich liebe in Gott einseitig den Vater der Menschen, und diese höhere Bedeutung und diese soziale Prägnanz hat nunmehr der religiöse Terminus von Gott alsVater: er ist nicht sowohl der Schöpfer und Urheber, sondern vielmehr der Schutz und Beistand der

“In this light the God who appears to me is the comforter of the poor and their avenger in world history. This avenger of the poor is the God I love. p. 81”

Unter dieser Beleuchtung entsteht mir der Gott, der der Beistand des Armen ist und sein Rächer in der Weltgeschichte. Diesen Rächer der Armen liebe ich.

“Worm that I am, consumed by passion, cast as bait for selfishness, I must nonetheless love humanity. If I can do this, and insofar as I can do this, I can also love God. p. 82”

Wurm, der ich bin, von Leidenschaften zerfressen, der Selbstsucht zum Köder hingeworfen, soll ich dennoch den Menschen lieben. Wenn ich dies kann, und sofern ich dies kann, kann ich auch Gott lieben.

“Love of God implies love of religion. And religion exemplifies that creative spirit of God which is at work in history as well as in the mind of man. Thus, one ought to love any religion, that is, religion as such, and in any form—as a manifestation of the moral spirit, the divine spirit of mankind.”

p. 52

Attributed to Hermann Cohen:

“The fellow-man is the discovery of ethics.”

“I have heard much of these languishing lovers, but I never yet saw one of them die for love.”

First Day, Novel VIII (trans. W. K. Kelly)

“To me it seems much better to love a woman as a woman, than to make her one's idol, as many do. For my part, I am convinced that it is better to use than to abuse.”

Second Day, Novel XII (trans. W. K. Kelly)

“No one ever perfectly loved God who did not perfectly love some of his creatures in this world.”

Second Day, Novel XIX (trans. W. K. Kelly) | Variant translation by Samuel Putnam in Marguerite of Navarre (1935), p. 53: Never shall a man attain to the perfect love of God who has not loved to perfection some creature in this world.

“Variant translation by Samuel Putnam in Marguerite of Navarre (1935), p. 53: Never shall a man attain to the perfect love of God who has not loved to perfection some creature in this world.”

No one ever perfectly loved God who did not perfectly love some of his creatures in this world.

Attributed to Marguerite of Navarre:

“Love is the great philosophical question, and every story is its commentary.”

“Birds' songs express joy , beauty, and purity, and evoke in us vitality and love . So many beings in the universe love us unconditionally. The trees, the water, and the air don't ask anything of us; they just love us. Even though we need this kind of love, we continue to destroy them. By destroying the animals, the air, and the trees, we are destroying ourselves.”

Love in Action: Writings on Nonviolent Social Change (1993), p. 131

“Love in Action: Writings on Nonviolent Social Change (1993), p. 131”

Birds' songs express joy , beauty, and purity, and evoke in us vitality and love . So many beings in the universe love us unconditionally. The trees, the water, and the air don't ask anything of us; they just love us. Even though we need this kind of love, we continue to destroy them. By destroying the animals, the air, and the trees, we are destroying ourselves.

“Teachings on Love (2005) Full Circle Publishing ISBN 81-7621-167-2”

When you understand the roots of anger in yourself and in the other, your mind will enjoy true peace, joy and lightness

“Teachings on Love (2005) Full Circle Publishing ISBN 81-7621-167-2”

When you feel anger arising, remember to return to your breathing and follow it. The other person may see that you are practicing, and she may even apologize.

“Your first love has no beginning or end. Your first love is not your first love, and it is not your last. It is just love. It is one with everything.”

Cultivating the Mind of Love (2005) Full Circle Publishing ISBN 81-216-0676-4

“Love is a capricious creature which desires everything and can be contented with almost nothing.”

Reported in David Newnham, "Love: Books" , The Guardian (10 February 2002), online

“Reported in David Newnham, "Love: Books" , The Guardian (10 February 2002), online”

Love is a capricious creature which desires everything and can be contented with almost nothing.

“Love makes mutes of those who habitually speak most fluently.”

p. 30

“Love is — I know not what; which comes — I know not whence; which is formed — I know not how; which enchants — I know not by what; and which ends — I know not when or why.”

p. 221

Attributed to Madeleine de Scudery:

“Love is the longest school of moral philosophy.”

Attributed to Ramon Llull:

“He who loves not lives not.”

Attributed to Ramon Llull:

“Through the gate of love the soul enters into wisdom.”

Attributed to Ramon Llull:

“Words and works are the joys of lovers.”

Attributed to Ramon Llull:

“He who fears not is a stranger to love.”

Attributed to Ramon Llull:

“Truth and love are the wings of the soul.”

“The compassion in the Path of Pure Land is to quickly attain Buddhahood, saying the nembutsu, and with the true heart of compassion and love save all beings completely as we desire.”

Red Lotus Sangha. The Tannisho Chapters I to X

Attributed to Shinran:

“I am a being of total karmic evil, yet I am saved by the boundless compassion of Amida.”

Attributed to Shinran:

“If even a good person can be born into the Pure Land, how much more so an evil person.”

Attributed to Shinran:

“When I consider deeply the Vow of Amida, I find it was for myself alone.”

Attributed to Shinran:

“The light of Amida illuminates the heart that becomes aware of itself.”

“What we know is as nothing, if we do not love God properly in all things.”

Norris, K. (1997). The Cloister Walk . Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-101-21566-1 .

Attributed to Mechthild of Magdeburg:

“I am the love that fills the heavens.”

Attributed to Mechthild of Magdeburg:

“Lord, I bring you my emptiness; fill it with yourself.”

Attributed to Mechthild of Magdeburg:

“Why love is so deep cannot be explained.”

Attributed to Mechthild of Magdeburg:

“The desire of God is older than the soul that desires Him.”

Attributed to Aelred of Rievaulx:

“He who has friends is rich.”

Attributed to Aelred of Rievaulx:

“True friendship is grounded in Christ; without him it cannot endure.”

Attributed to Aelred of Rievaulx:

“Friendship is wisdom, and wisdom is friendship.”

Attributed to Aelred of Rievaulx:

“Love is the foundation of every virtue.”

Attributed to Aelred of Rievaulx:

“Where charity is, there is light; where light is, there is life.”

Attributed to Beatrijs of Nazareth:

“Love has seven manners, and each is a kingdom in itself.”

Attributed to Beatrijs of Nazareth:

“What the soul desires above all other things, it does not yet know how to ask for.”

Attributed to Beatrijs of Nazareth:

“The wound of love is the proof that one is alive in love.”

Attributed to Beatrijs of Nazareth:

“To rest in eternity is to lose nothing of the self that one had to give.”

Attributed to Beatrijs of Nazareth:

“There is no last manner of love; there is only the manner that is given to one this hour.”

Attributed to Hadewijch of Antwerp:

“Love alone gives the knowledge that love is.”

Attributed to Hadewijch of Antwerp:

“She who lives without love does not yet know what it is to live.”

Attributed to Hadewijch of Antwerp:

“The soul is at home in love when it has learned to be a stranger to everything else.”

Attributed to Hadewijch of Antwerp:

“Where God is the lover, the soul can hide nothing from God or from itself.”

Attributed to Hadewijch of Antwerp:

“Pain rightly borne is the very door through which love enters.”

Attributed to Marguerite Porete:

“The soul that is annihilated has no will of her own.”

Attributed to Marguerite Porete:

“Love alone teaches the simple soul what is to be done.”

Attributed to Marguerite Porete:

“A simple soul has no longer any why.”

Attributed to Marguerite Porete:

“Such a soul neither desires nor refuses anything; for she is at peace.”

Attributed to Marguerite Porete:

“I am loved by Love and so I love.”

“The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.”

What I Believe, 1925

“To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.”

Marriage and Morals, 1929

“Thee will find out in time that I have a great love of professing vile sentiments, I don't know why, unless it springs from long efforts to avoid priggery.”

Letter to Alys Pearsall Smith (1894). Smith was a Quaker, thus the archaic use of "Thee" in this and other letters to her.

Attributed to Bertrand Russell:

“Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.”

“We can only learn to love by loving.”

The Bell (1958), ch. 19; 2001, p. 219.

“Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck.”

The Black Prince (1973); 2003, p. 10.

“Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real. Love, and so art and morals, is the discovery of reality.”

The Sublime and the Good", in the Chicago Review , Vol. 13 Issue 3 (Autumn 1959) p. 51.

Attributed to Iris Murdoch:

“Love is the perception of individuals.”

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

Все счастливые семьи похожи друг на друга, каждая несчастливая семья несчастлива по-своему.

“All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.”

Thoughts of Prince Andrew Bk XII, Ch. 16

“The hero of my tale, whom I love with all the power of my soul, whom I have tried to portray in all his beauty, who has been, is, and will be beautiful, is Truth.”

Sevastopol in May (1855), Ch. 16

“Where Love Is, God Is " (1885), also translated as "Where Love is, There God is Also" - (full text online)”

Martin's soul grew very very glad. He crossed himself put on his spectacles, and began reading the Gospel just where it had opened; and at the top of the page he read: I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in. And at the bottom of the page he read: Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren even these least, ye did it

“Is it the being tied to One that offends us? Why this ought rather to recommend it to us, and would really do so, were we guided by reason, and not by humor and brutish passion. He who does not make friendship the chief inducement of his choice, and prefer it before any other consideration does not deserve a good wife, and therefore should not complain if he goes without one... The Christian institution of marriage provides the best that may be for domestic quiet and content, and for the education of children.”

As quoted in Women's Political & Social Thought: An Anthology , p. 112. Editors Hilda L. Smith, Berenice A. Carroll. Editorial Indiana University Press, 2000. ISBN 0253337585 .

“Thus, whether it be wit or beauty that a man’s in love with, there are no great hopes of a lasting happiness; beauty, with all the helps of arts, is of no long date; the more it is , the sooner it decays; and he, who only or chiefly chose for beauty, will in a little time find the same reason for another choice.”

Reflection upon Marriage , as quoted in Astell: Political Writings , p. 42.

Attributed to Mary Astell:

“How can a Man respect his Wife when he has a Contemptible Opinion of her and her Sex?”

Attributed to Mary Astell:

“She who has nothing to give but herself, makes a notable present.”

“Language is a skin: I rub my language against the other.”

Talking," in A Lover's Discourse (1977)

“Talking," in A Lover's Discourse (1977)”

Language is a skin : I rub my language against the other. It is as if I had words instead of fingers, or fingers at the tip of my words. My language trembles with desire.

Attributed to Roland Barthes:

“What love lays bare in me is energy.”

Attributed to Roland Barthes:

“I cannot classify the other, for the other is, precisely, Unique, the singular Image which has miraculously come to correspond to the speciality of my desire.”