“The giving of love is an education in itself.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
Variant: Unasked, Unsought, Love gives itself but is not bought
Source: The Complete Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“The giving of love is an education in itself.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
“Truth is not to be bought any more than love can be bought.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) Indian spiritual philosopher
Second Talk in Poona (10 September 1958) http://www.jkrishnamurti.com/krishnamurti-teachings/view-text.php?tid=588&chid=4907&w=%22Please+let+us+be+clear+on+this+point%22, J.Krishnamurti Online, JKO Serial No. 580910, Vol. XI, p. 20 <br class="br">Posthumous publications, The Collected Works <br class="br">Context: Please let us be clear on this point — that you cannot by any process, through any discipline, through any form of meditation, go to truth, God, or whatever name you like to give it. It is much too vast, it cannot possibly be conceived of; no description will cover it, no book can hold it, nor any word contain it. So you cannot by any devious method, by any sacrifice, by any discipline or through any guru, go to it. You must await it, it will come to you, you cannot go to it. That is the fundamental thing one has to understand, that not through any trick of the mind, not through any control, through any virtue, any compulsion, any form of suppression, can the mind possibly go to truth. All that the mind can do is be quiet but not with the intention of receiving it. And that is one of the most difficult things of all because we think truth can be experienced right away through doing certain things. Truth is not to be bought any more than love can be bought.
“Who can give law to lovers? Love is a greater law to itself.”
Quis legem det amantibus?
Maior lex amor est sibi.
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480) philosopher of the early 6th century
Poem XII, lines 47-48
The Consolation of Philosophy · De Consolatione Philosophiae, Book III
“When He tells us to love our enemies He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”
Corrie ten Boom (1892–1983) Dutch resistance hero and writer
Source: The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom
William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist
The Clod and the Pebble, st. 1
1790s, Songs of Experience (1794)
“You bought me some forks. And knives. And spoons. Because you love me!”
Sarah Dessen book This Lullaby
Source: This Lullaby
Derek Walcott (1930–2017) Saint Lucian–Trinidadian poet and playwright
"Love after Love"
Source: "A Far Cry from Africa" (1962), Collected Poems, 1948-1984 (1986)
“We know perfectly well that neither love nor peace of mind can be bought with any currency.”
Andrei Tarkovsky book Sculpting in Time
Source: Sculpting in Time (1986), p. 219