But can it be defined? As people around the world prepare for Valentine’s Day tomorrow, we look at what some of the wisest thinkers in history have said about love.
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The ten best ways of describing love
But can it be defined? As people around the world prepare for Valentine's Day tomorrow, we look at what some of the wisest thinkers in history have said about love.
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Capturing rapture
Pierre examines his check list. He has ordered flowers for his girlfriend. He has booked a table for dinner. He has bought her a beautiful scarf. He finishes writing out a card: "with all my love..." But what exactly does he mean by love?
The problem is that love takes so many forms. Valentine's Day is a celebration of romantic love. But there is also the love you feel for your family, your friends, your pets - even your school.
Since love has existed as long as humans, there are plenty of definitions of it. Here are 10 of them:
Can love be defined?
Yes: All you have to do is find a copy of the Concise Oxford Dictionary, which describes it as follows: "An intense feeling of deep affection or fondness for a person or thing; great liking."
No: You might as well try to catch the wind. It is one of those things that we recognise when we come across it, but can never properly describe to somebody else. If we could, it would be less precious.
Or... There is no need to define it, because everyone knows what it is. But we owe a great deal of wonderful writing to the fact that poets, philosophers and religious leaders keep on trying.
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Keywords
Antoine de Saint-Exupery - A French aviator and writer who wrote The Little Prince.
Aviator - Pilot.
Stendhal - The pen name of Marie-Henri Beyle, a 19th Century French writer.
Voltaire - A French enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher known for his criticism of Christianity and slavery.
James Baldwin - An American writer and civil rights activist who was born in 1924.
civil rights - Rights that protect people's personal freedoms.
Theologian - A person who studies religious beliefs.
Psychoanalyst - A practitioner of psychoanalysis, a set of psychological theories first laid out by Sigmund Freud in the late 19th Century.
The ten best ways of describing love
Floral adorer: This detail from The Honeysuckle Bower by Rubens shows him with his wife. Glossary
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - A French aviator and writer who wrote The Little Prince.
Aviator - Pilot.
Stendhal - The pen name of Marie-Henri Beyle, a 19th Century French writer.
Voltaire - A French enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher known for his criticism of Christianity and slavery.
James Baldwin - An American writer and civil rights activist who was born in 1924.
civil rights - Rights that protect people's personal freedoms.
Theologian - A person who studies religious beliefs.
Psychoanalyst - A practitioner of psychoanalysis, a set of psychological theories first laid out by Sigmund Freud in the late 19th Century.