If there is one common theme across art, cultures, and simply humans in general, it’s love. Love is both a simple and complex thing, as it’s something we all feel and can relate to, yet is difficult to truly measure in any tangible way. It’s also something we all long for and wish to have in our lives, no matter how complicated or painful it can be.
Love comes in many shapes and forms, whether it’s love for a family member, a friend, or a significant other. It’s a common thread that connects all of us in some way or another, and therefore is something often expressed and talked about. For that reason we probably have more amazing love quotes than any other topic out there. Whether they’re from poets or musicians, actors or athletes, there is no shortage of love quotes for us to indulge in, and simply just relate to.
They say love transcends all, and whether you believe that or not, there is no denying love’s immense power. It is love that allows people to defy odds and break boundaries, and it’s love that brings people together. What can we say? We just love love — and love quotes show the world does too.
Yet, most importantly, love is something we all deserve. Yes, that includes you.
Love may be crazy, kind, and cruel all at once, but it’s what keeps us going in life — it’s just that powerful. It also has the ability to teach us things about ourselves, others, and the world around us, and we think that’s pretty impressive too.
If you’re in the loving mood, or are looking for some love-related wisdom, check out these 50 best love quotes of all time.
1. "A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge." — Thomas Carlyle
Love has the ability to teach us things we would never be able to learn without it.
2. "A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved." — Kurt Vonnegut
Love multiplies when it is shared with others.
3. "You only learn to love again when you fall in love again." — Adele
4. "Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." — Lao Tzu
This Lao Tzu quote shows us love works both ways, and while it isn't always easy, it is always worth it.
5. "You don't love someone because they're perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they're not." — Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper
Just as all things in life, love is never perfect — but it's perfect that way.
6. "Like a river flows surely to the seas, darling so it goes, some things are meant to be." — Elvis
7. "Love means to commit yourself without guarantee." — Anne Campbell
Love is a risk worth taking.
8. "The giving of love is an education in itself." — Eleanor Roosevelt
It is through giving love that we open up and connect to others, and in turn learn more about ourselves.
9. "If we lose love and self respect for each other, this is how we finally die." — Maya Angelou
10. "Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world." — Lucille Ball
This quote talks about another form a love — self-love —which is the foundation you need in order to love others.
11. "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." — Helen Keller
Love is undoubtedly one of those things.
12. "One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving." — Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
13. "We love the things we love for what they are." — Robert Frost
When you truly love someone, you love their authentic selves
14. "Nobody has measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold." — Zelda Fitzgerald
The heart never fails to surprise you with what it can do.
15. "Love is the answer, and you know that for sure. Love is a flower, you've got to let it grow." — John Lennon
16. "The best thing to hold onto in life is each other." — Audrey Hepburn
This Audrey Hepburn quotes reminds us this life is not meant to be lived alone.
17. "If music be the food of love, play on." — William Shakespeare
18. "When we are in love we seem to ourselves quite different from what we were before." – Blaise Pascal
Love opens up new parts of you, and transforms the way you see the world.
19. "To love and be loved is the feel the sun from both sides." — David Viscott
Love is a give and take, and rewarding from both ends.
20. "The very essence of romance is uncertainty." — Oscar Wilde
Nothing is guaranteed in love, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't love anyway.
21. "You don't have to to settle to feel loved. You don't have to shrink to be seen." — Alex Elle
22. "Life is a game and true love is a trophy." — Rufus Wainwright
This quote say love is what makes you a winner in life.
23. "There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature." — Jane Austen
24. "I hope you find love. But more importantly, I hope you are strong enough to walk away from what love isn't." — Tiffany Tomiko
Sometimes love requires you to be honest with yourself, and walk away from what is no longer serving your life.
25. "Love is a promise, love is a souvenir. Once given, never forgotten, never let it disappear." — John Lennon
26. "It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done." — Vincent Van Gogh
The more love you have, the more good you will do.
27. "Life is the flower for which love is the honey." — Victor Hugo
28. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." — Jimi Hendrix
This Jimi Hendrix quote is famous, and that's because it's so true. Love is the most powerful tool we have, but many people fail to see it that way.
29. "There is always some madness in love, but there is also always some reason in madness." — Friedrich Nietzsche
Love may seem crazy sometimes, but there is always an underlying purpose.
30. "You know you're in love when you don't want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." — Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss was clearly feeling all the love.
31. "Love does not dominate, it cultivates." — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
This quote is beautiful, and could not be more true.
32. "Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within." — James Baldwin
33. "And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make." — Paul McCartney
34. "Sorrow is how we learn to love. Your heart isn't breaking. It hurts because it's getting larger. The larger it gets, the more love it holds." — Rita Mae Brown
It's from sorrow that we grow and learn how to love even more.
35. "Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect." — JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Love works in mysterious ways.
36. "Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive." — Dalai Lama
37. "We accept the love we think we deserve." — Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Except, we deserve all the love in the world.
38. "Where there is love there is life." — Mahatma Gandhi
39. "To be brave is to love someone unconditionally, without expecting anything in return." — Madonna
Are you able to love without expecting anything in return?
40. "Don't settle for a relationship that won't let you be yourself." — Oprah
This Oprah quote teaches us that while a relationship should support your growth, it shouldn't stop you from being yourself.
41. "You can't blame gravity for falling in love." — Albert Einstein
How cute is that?
42. "The only thing we never get enough of is love, and the only thing we never give enough of is love." — Henry Miller
43. "Romance is the glamour which turns the dust of everyday life into a golden haze." — Elinor Glyn
Love has the ability to transform your life, as long as you're open to it.
44. "Love is not only something you feel, it is something you do." — David Wilkerson
Love is both a feeling and an action.
45. "The greater your capacity to feel love, the greater your capacity to feel the pain." — Jennifer Aniston
Love makes you vulnerable, but that isn't something to fear.
46. "Love is when you meet someone who tells you something new about yourself." — Andre Breton
They say relationships can be a mirror for the relationship you have with yourself.
47. "We are most alive when we are in love." — John Updike
48. "Being loved and being chosen are two different things. Great relationships require both." — Vienna Pharaon
Relationships are not always easy, and require conscious effort and dedication — and of course, love.
49. "Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time." — Maya Angelou
Never stop trusting love and what it can bring to your life.
50. "There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved." — George Sand
Love sometimes brings pain and suffering, but the joy and fulfillment it provides outweighs it all.