There’s something about quotes on love. While some you may forget, quite a few are etched in your memory once you read them, and for good reason too. Throughout history and time, when the great ones have spoken about love, it is not the trivial or the read-once-and-forget kind. There is depth and meaning in the words. If you would just close your eyes and read out the quote(s), the experience is something else. Haven’t experienced something like that yet? Well, here are some incredible famous love quotes that you just can’t miss. Gear up!
1.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery was a pioneering French aviator and author, and lived an action packed life which saw him fly as a commercial pilot, fight for the French forces in the second world war, fight for the Free French Forces under Charles de Gaulle, and also pick up the pen to write down one of the great books of the era, The Little Prince. Here, in this book, among many other famous love quotes, Exupery shares his wisdom by saying that love consists not of two lovers who are forever lost in another’s eyes, but two people who have decided to join forces and take on the world as one unit. Aligned, even if not shared, interests and outlooks are the bedrock of love.
2.
Ingrid Bergman was one of the most beautiful actresses of her time, and in a career littered with sparkling performances and multiple accolades – including three academy awards – it is her intelligence that is sometimes overlooked, especially in the current era. The Casablanca actress would go on to share her thoughts about love and its nature a lot in her illustrious career, but it is this particular quote that she is best remembered for. Sometimes, it really is best to cut speech short with a kiss.
[Read More: Beautiful Love Quotes ]
3.
Benjamin Franklin was a pioneer, an innovator, an inventor and one of the founding fathers of the United States of America, but he was also one to pen his thoughts down regularly, which obviously resulted in a long list of famous love quotes. The man on the hundred dollar bill of the United States had many things to say about that all conquering emotion, but this particular quote has a special significance given the prevalent state of affairs at the time. As much a message to a young country as a point for young lovers to ponder, Ben Franklin talks about how those who do not value and love themselves will find it very hard indeed to expect or receive that treatment from others.
4.
John Donne was an English poet and much more, and he lived as interesting a life as could be imagined in 1600s England. Known for his outstanding long-form poetry dealing with love, sexuality, religion and death, Donne also served as Member of Parliament of England two times, and had a penchant for womanizing. Nonetheless, he seems to have captured the very essence of what constitutes romantic love when he says that if a relationship is based on beauty and beauty alone, it will die as soon as the beauty dies. This sentiment can be applied just as much today as it could be in the 15th century. Talk about famous love quotes.
5.
Henry Ward Beecher was one of the greatest proponents of God’s love in the late 1800s in America, and was an ardent supporter for the motion to abolish slavery. Beecher would go onto to oppose Theodore Tilton’s policy of “free love,” before going on to have an affair with his (Tilton’s) wife. Hypocrite or not, Beecher seems to hit the nail on the head with this famous quote of his, which talks of how worshiping is merely an action until you truly love that which you are revering, in which case the true depth and beauty of worship will reveal itself to you.
6.
La Rochefoucauld made this astute observation in the 1600s, but like any true saying of value, its appeal and application remain timeless. A French nobleman, and an accomplished writer of epithets, memoirs and famous love quotes, he noted how true love was this mysterious entity that everyone seemed to have an opinion on, everyone coveted, but very few had actually seen (or experienced). It is important to note this wonderful saying, especially considering we live in a time when popular culture and the press are keen to pass everything off as “true love.”
7.
Thy great Alfred, Lord Tennyson was poet laureate during the reign of Queen Victoria, and is as such, one of the greatest poets of not only the Victorian era, but in all of England’s history (although comparisons to The Bard are unwarranted.) Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, the same institution that tutored the likes of genius mathematician Ramanujan and perhaps the greatest mind of them all, Isaac Newton, Tennyson wrote some of the most memorable poems and famous love quotes that we (sometimes unwittingly) recite today. This particular quote says that a broken heart is better than a lonely heart, but even if you don’t completely buy that though, it is certainly something to ponder.
8.
This outstanding quote by noted French poet and writer Arsene Houssaye can mean ten different things, but we’re going to focus on one of the most common interpretations – that one can judge a person based on how they respond to the “unattractive.” It’s easy to love on the basis of a face, or lost in thoughts of unblemished skin and supple bodies, but if you love the other person’s heart, without a care for how they look, your love is both true and meant to last.
[Read More: Osho Love Quotes ]
9.
The cleric Charles Colton – who was educated at King’s college – was also a noted essayist, and is the one responsible for this quote that dazzles to this day with its simplicity and astuteness. Those who have gone through the motions will be familiar with the meaning of his message, such that often we end up falling for the one we spend time with, even if we had never approached the relationship with any romantic underpinnings, but if we’re madly in love with someone, and things are not meant to be, it’s never possible to say “that’s fine,” we can just be friends. Well, you can say it, but you’ll never be a friend to them, will you? It’s just too painful.
10.
Lawrence Durrell, the British poet (although he always resisted that tag), was born in Jalandhar, India and lived much of his life in France. This excellent quote of his, while worded with exemplary wit, conveys a simple meaning – those who let things go with the passage of time, will have the happiest relationships. If you keep reheating the others’ sins for breakfast (after having “forgiven” them), you are unlikely to get anywhere. It’s that simple.
11.
This particular quote by acclaimed 19th century French writer Stendhal always seems to put the mind of millions at ease when they get around to reading it. Hope springs eternal, and hope is all you need to get past the doubts and plunge into the deep ocean of love. Sure, there have been many times when we have seen this strategy backfire; but the times when love has overcome against all odds, as Stendhal would say, is all we need to keep trying anyway.
12.
Henry David Thoreau was certainly a character. A staunch abolitionist, he was also a pioneer in the art of living simply and by one’s own means surrounded by nature – a choice of lifestyle he preferred for himself. This lifestyle also afforded him the time to pen his thoughts and reflections, and while his teachings have gone on to influence future leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, the particular quote we’re dealing with today talks about how once in love, no ticks and balances are ever enough. If you’re going in, go all in.
13.
Diogenes was one of the pioneers of the ancient Greek philosophy of cynicism, that is to say he wasn’t snarky when his friends talked of how much they loved their wives, but rather that he chose to life a simple life himself, surrounded by nature. He also gave us this rather excellent quote that reminds us of how to distinguish the virtuous from those who dealt in vice, and it has to do with something that has rather been out of fashion in the current era. Where society at large teaches (the westernized among) us to be confident, often bordering on the cocky; Diogenes was quick to remind us that those who blush do so because they have an inkling of virtue left in them, and to the cynics, that was the most important thing.
14.
That is correct, and is quite brilliant in its simplicity. The American psychiatrist Menninger reminds us that you cannot discount love as one of the most powerful forces around, if you’ve chosen to never give any yourself. Complaining about not receiving any love isn’t any good, there are plenty of people that you can share all the love you have to give, if you just look a little harder, and trusted some more.
15.
To be fair to Loretta Young, she did say something that seems to make perfect sense. Going looking for love is something that we’ve all been advised against, for the simple reason that like Loretta Young said, love just happens when you put yourself out there and live your life. It isn’t quite something that can be engineered or found through searching.
16.
H. Jackson Brown, Jr. wrote an outstanding little book for his son who was going away to college, titled Life’s Little Instruction Book. The text contained 511 tips on how to live a happy and rewarding life, and was the sum of a lifetime’s worth of reflections from the American. A smashing success, it spent 2 years on the New York Times Bestseller list, and gave us little pearls of wisdom like the above. If you were to boil down love – any love – down to one sentence, we challenge you to come up with something more insightful. Mothers and lovers everywhere will attest to this one.
[Read More: Shakespeare Love Quotes ]
17.
Echoing what Robert Frost said about “love being an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired,” Audrey Hepburn made clear what she required out of her relationships, and we think that not only is her position a fair one, but that if everyone were so clear about intentions and expectation from the start, there would be a lot fewer complications.
We hope you enjoyed this collection of famous love quotes we have compiled for you. Keep checking back for further updates and additional quotes down the line.
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The post 17 Incredible Famous Love Quotes By The Great Ones appeared first on The Bridal Box.