On Love

"It hurts."
"Of course it does, the hurt is how we know it was love. The absence we feel is proof that what we had is something that can be lost."
"...and when does it stop?"
"If it was love, it won't."

-- Beau Taplin

To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial.
To be known and not loved is our greatest fear.
But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.

-- Timothy Keller

I want you to promise me something. If you love someone, tell them. When if you are scared that it's not the right thing, even if you are scared that it'll cause problems, even if you are scared that it will burn your life to the ground, you say it, and you say it loud. And then you go from there.

-- Mark Sloan (Grey's Anatomy)

When you say "I love you" it means "I can offer you true peace and happiness". In order to be able to offer them, you must already be able to offer them to yourself.

-- Thich Nhat Hanh

Experience has shown me that the greatest inner tranquillity comes from developing love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warm-hearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove our fears and insecurities and gives us strength to face obstacles - it is the ultimate source of success in life.

-- Dalai Lama

You know quite well, deep within you, that there is only a single magic, a single power, a single salvation... and that is called loving. Well, then, love your suffering. Do not resist it, do not flee from it. It is your aversion that hurts, nothing else.

-- Hermann Hesse

Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.

-- Erich Fromm

If there is anything better than being loved, it is loving. 

-- Anonymous

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. 

-- Plato

He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity, and honor.

-- Proverbs 21:21

Love must be learned, and learned again and again; there is no end to it. 

-- Katherine Anne Porter

Life-long love does not happen by chance but is an art that must be learned, practiced, and honed. 

-- Les & Leslie Parrott

It is love, not reason, that is stronger than death. 

-- Thomas Mann

Take away love and our earth is a tomb. 

 -- Robert Browning

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved... loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. 

-- Victor Hugo