Julian Barnes: Quotes about love

Julian Barnes is English writer. Explore interesting quotes on love.

Julian Barnes: 154 quotes3 likes

“What makes us want to know the worst? Is it that we tire of preferring to know the best? Does curiosity always hurdle self-interest? Or is it, more simply, that wanting to know the worst is love's favorite perversion.”

“When we fall in love, we hope - both egotistically and altruistically - that we shall be finally, truly seen: judged and approved. Of course, love does not always bring approval: being seen may just as well lead to a thumbs-down and a season in hell.”

Source: Nothing to Be Frightened Of

“Perhaps love is essential because it's unnecessary.”

Source: A History of the World in 10½ Chapters

“Every love story is a potential grief story.”

Source: Levels of Life

“Because love is the meeting point of truth and magic. Truth, as in photography; magic, as in ballooning.”

Source: Levels of Life

“Love is just a system for getting someone to call you Darling after sex.”

Julian Barnes book Talking It Over

Source: Talking It Over

“Love may not lead where we think or hope, but regardless of outcome it should be a call to seriousness and truth. If it is not that - if it is not moral in its effect - then love is no more than an exaggerated form of pleasure.”

Source: Levels of Life

“Some of the freckles I once loved are now closer to liver spots. But it’s still the eyes we look at, isn’t it? That’s where we found the other person, and find them still.”

Julian Barnes book The Sense of an Ending

Source: The Sense of an Ending

“There are two essential kinds of loneliness: that of not having found someone to love, and that of having been deprived of the one you did love. The first kind is worse. Nothing can compare to the loneliness of the soul in adolescence.”

Source: Levels of Life