“I knew now, that it is by loving, and not by being loved, that one can come nearest the soul of another; yea, that, where two love, it is the loving of each other, and not the being loved by each other, that originates and perfects and assures their blessedness. I knew that love gives to him that loveth, power over any soul beloved, even if that soul know him not, bringing him inwardly close to that spirit; a power that cannot be but for good; for in proportion as selfishness intrudes, the love ceases, and the power which springs therefrom dies. Yet all love will, one day, meet with its return. All true love will, one day, behold its own image in the eyes of the beloved, and be humbly glad. This is possible in the realms of lofty Death.”

Phantastes (1858)

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George MacDonald 127
Scottish journalist, novelist 1824–1905

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“It is by loving and not by being loved that one can come nearest to the soul of another.”

Phantastes (1858)
Variant: It is by loving and not by being loved, that one can come nearest to the soul of another.
Context: I knew now, that it is by loving, and not by being loved, that one can come nearest the soul of another; yea, that, where two love, it is the loving of each other, and not the being loved by each other, that originates and perfects and assures their blessedness. I knew that love gives to him that loveth, power over any soul beloved, even if that soul know him not, bringing him inwardly close to that spirit; a power that cannot be but for good; for in proportion as selfishness intrudes, the love ceases, and the power which springs therefrom dies. Yet all love will, one day, meet with its return. All true love will, one day, behold its own image in the eyes of the beloved, and be humbly glad. This is possible in the realms of lofty Death.

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“If you want to feel the happiness of loving, forget about your soul.
The soul ruins love.
Only in God can the soul meet satisfaction.
Not in another soul.
Only in God — or out of the world.
Souls cannot communicate.
Let your body talk to another body.
Because bodies understand each other, but souls don’t.”

Manuel Bandeira (1886–1968) Brazilian writer

Se queres sentir a felicidade de amar, esquece a tua alma.
A alma é que estraga o amor.
Só em Deus ela pode encontrar satisfação.
Não noutra alma.
Só em Deus - ou fora do mundo.
As almas são incomunicáveis.
Deixa o teu corpo entender — se com outro corpo.
Porque os corpos se entendem, mas as almas não.
Arte de amar (The Art of Loving)

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“I had not intended to love him; the reader knows I had wrought hard to extirpate from my soul the germs of love there detected; and now, at the first renewed view of him, they spontaneously arrived, green and strong! He made me love him without looking at me.”

Jane (Ch. 17)
Jane Eyre (1847)
Context: Most true is it that "beauty is in the eye of the gazer." My master’s colourless, olive face, square, massive brow, broad and jetty eyebrows, deep eyes, strong features, firm, grim mouth, — all energy, decision, will, — were not beautiful, according to rule; but they were more than beautiful to me; they were full of an interest, an influence that quite mastered me, — that took my feelings from my own power and fettered them in his. I had not intended to love him; the reader knows I had wrought hard to extirpate from my soul the germs of love there detected; and now, at the first renewed view of him, they spontaneously arrived, green and strong! He made me love him without looking at me.

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“People think we had a love-hate relationship. Well, I did not love him, nor did I hate him. We had mutual respect for each other, even as we both planned each other's murder.”

Werner Herzog (1942) German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and opera director

Herzog on Herzog (2002), On Klaus Kinski

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