Only the soul that loves is happy. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832, German poet & novelist
True love – millions of people are desperately searching for it. It’s a nice metaphor ... Could it be bullshit? Penn & Teller, Bullshit! s2e3, Showtime 2004
I get no kick from champagne,
Mere alcohol doesn’t thrill me at all.
So tell me why it should be true
That I get a kick out of you. Cole Porter, song 1934
Birds do it, bees do it,
Even educated fleas do it.
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love. Cole Porter
And all for love, and nothing for reward. Stanley Spenser, The Faerie Queene
Round up all suspicious characters and search them for stolen documents. Casablanca 1942 ***** starring Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman & Paul Henreid & Claude Rains & Conrad Veidt & Sydney Greenstreet & Peter Lorre & Curt Bois et al, director Michael Curtiz, rozzer
May I see your papers? ibid. rozzers
Realizing the importance of the case my men are rounding up twice the usual number of suspects. ibid. Louis
I don’t mind a parasite; I object to a cut-throat one. ibid. Rick
I stick my neck out for nobody. ibid. Rick
I’m only a poor corrupt official. ibid. Louis
Rozzer: What is your nationality?
Rick: I am a drunkard. ibid.
Leave him alone, Miss Ilsa. You bad luck to him. ibid. Sam
Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world she walks into mine. ibid. Rick to Sam
You played it for her, you can play it for me. ibid.
Here’s looking at you, kid. ibid. him to her in Paris
And what if you tracked down these men and killed them? What if you murdered all of us? From every corner of Europe hundreds, thousands would rise to take our places. Even Nazis can’t kill that fast. ibid. Laszlo to Nazi
You either lay off politics or get out. ibid. Rick
I’m the only cause I’m interested in. ibid. Rick to Ilsa
I’m going to die in Casablanca; it’s a good spot for it. ibid.
Go ahead and shoot and you’ll be doing me a favour. ibid.
Each of us has a destiny: for good or for evil. ibid. Laszlo
You’re getting on that plane with Victor where you belong ... You’ll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but soon and for the rest of your life. We’ll always have Paris. ibid.
The problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. ibid.
Round up the usual suspects. ibid. Louis
Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. ibid. Rick
And love’s the noblest frailty of the mind. John Dryden, The Indian Emperor
My love’s a noble madness. John Dryden, All For Love
But love’s a malady without a cure. John Dryden, Palamon and Arcite
And Anthony, who lost the world for love. ibid.
Love is an abstract noun, something nebulous. And yet love turns out to be the only part of us that is solid, as the world turns upside down and the screen goes black. We can’t tell if it will survive us. But we can be sure that it’s the last thing to go. Martin Amis, The Second Plane, 14 Responses to September 11th
You know how it is when two souls meet in a burst of ecstatic volubility, with hearts tickling to hear and to tell, to know everything, to reveal everything, the shared reverence for the other’s otherness, a feeling of solitude radiantly snapped by full contact – all that? Martin Amis, London Fields
But there was one philosopher who did take love very seriously. He saw it as one of our central concerns. His name was Arthur Schopenhauer. Alain de Botton, Philosophy: Schopenhauer on Love, Channel 4 2000
He tells us Love is not a trivial subject. We shouldn’t see it as a distraction from more important or grown up concerns. It’s no accident that Love is such an overwhelming emotion. That it can take over our lives and fill our every waking moment. And Schopenhauer urges us not to be too hard on ourselves. ibid.
Why do we fall in love with the people we do? ibid.
Love is nothing more than our will to life. ibid.
When someone dumps us, it’s not us that they’re rejecting, it’s not that we’re unlovable, it’s just that their will to life thinks that they’ll be able to produce more well-balanced healthier children with someone else. ibid.
I am what her savage loving has made me. Samuel Beckett, re mother, cited James Knowlson, Damned to Fame, 1996
Love me do. The Beatles
All you need is love. The Beatles
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion. Dylan Thomas
One can give without loving. But one cannot love without giving. Amy Carmichael, 1867-1951
Come on, Celia, let us prove,
While we can, the sports of love. Ben Jonson, Volpone, 1606
Everything terrible is something that needs our love. Rainer Maria Rilke
Romantic love is a drug ... Love is an addiction. Dr Helen Fisher, anthropologist
Love’s a disease, but curable. Rose Macaulay, Crewe Train, 1926
Love is the answer – but while you’re waiting for the answer, sex raises some pretty good questions. Woody Allen
Twice in her life she had mistaken something else for it; it was like seeing somebody in the street who you think is a friend, you whistle and wave and run after him, and it is not only not the friend, but not even very like him. A few minutes later the real friend appears in view, and then you can’t imagine how you ever mistook that other person for him. Linda was now looking upon the authentic face of love, and she knew it, but it frightened her. That it should come so casually, so much by a series of accidents, was frightening. Nancy Mitford, The Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate
The ones we choose to love become our anchor when the hawser of the blood-tie’s hacked, or frays. Tony Harrison
Love’s like the measles – all the worse when it comes late in life. Douglas Jerrold, The Wit and Opinions of Douglas Jerrold
The oldest myth running – Love. A fiction created by people to keep them from jumping out of windows. Wall Street 1987 starring Michael Douglas & Charlie Sheen & Martin Sheen & Daryl Hannah & John C McGinley & Terence Stamp & James Karen & Hal Holbrook & Sean Young & James Spader, director Oliver Stone, Gordon Gecko to Karen
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. Lao Tzu
That’s what real love amounts to – letting a person be what he really is. Jim Morrison
Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye. H Jackson Brown
Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. Aristotle
We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone. Orson Welles