You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams

You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.
— Dr. Seuss

Take away love and our earth is a tomb

Take away love and our earth is a tomb.

-Robert Browning (1812-1889), English poet.

Doubt that the sun doth move, doubt truth to be a liar, but never doubt I love

Doubt that the sun doth move, doubt truth to be a liar, but never doubt I love.

-William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English poet and playwright. From "Hamlet," Act 2, Scene 2

Οι άνθρωποι όταν λένε «σ’ αγαπώ», αγαπάνε τον εαυτό τους

Χρειάστηκε να περάσουν πολλά χρόνια για να καταλάβω ότι οι άνθρωποι όταν λένε «σ’ αγαπώ», αγαπάνε τον εαυτό τους και όχι αυτόν στον οποίον απευθύνουν την κουβέντα. Είναι μια ιδιότυπη μορφή Αττικής σύνταξης – εκτός Τριανταφυλλίδη.

Σταύρος Σταυρόπουλος, Τι γίνονται οι λέξεις όταν μεγαλώνουν, εκδ. Ελληνικά Γράμματα, 2008

http://sstavropoulos.blogspot.com/

What is the energy of compassion?

Now we shouldn’t see compassion as some romantic concept, but ask ourselves: “What is the energy of compassion?“ In order to answer that you first have to ask yourself: What is the basic principle of thinking, of the mind? It is black-white, either-or, me or you. For compassion we just have to change one word: me AND you. That is the process of compassion. Whenever there’s “me and you”, there’s a state of stillness. Stillness is not the absence of noise; stillness is the process of you and me at the same time. Not forgetting me, and not forgetting you either, nothing else. And then I ask you: if you look at the world, if you look at your life, is there even one reason for not having the connection “me and you” every day, with everyone? There is absolutely no reason. When you see that, in that compassion automatically you’ll have the chain of feelings, the out-of-body consciousness, modern meditation and the inner state of stillness. That is all you need in this life.
Manuel Schoch, (1946 - 2008)
http://www.tune-in.ch/download/en/talk_in_Hamburg_english.doc

It is not enough to love passionately; you must also love well

My children, it is not enough to love passionately; you must also love well. A passionate love is good doubtless, but a beautiful love is better. May you have as much strength as gentleness; may it lack nothing, not even forbearance, and let even a little compassion be mingled with it. You are young, fair and good; but you are human, and because of this capable of much suffering. If then something of compassion does not enter into the feelings you have one for the other, these feelings will not always befit all the circumstances of your life together; they will be like festive robes that will not shield you from wind and rain. We love truly only those we love even in their weakness and their poverty. To forbear, to forgive, to console, that alone is the science of love.
Anatole France, Honey-Bee

The best thing is not to hate anyone, only to love

The sage said, "The best thing is not to hate anyone, only to love. That is the only way out of it. As soon as you have forgiven those whom you hate, you have gotten rid of them. Then you have no reason to hate them; you just forget".
Hazrat Inayat Khan

Three passions have governed my life

Three passions have governed my life:
The longings for love, the search for knowledge,
And unbearable pity for the suffering of [humankind].

Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness.
In the union of love I have seen
In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision
Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge.
I have wished to understand the hearts of [people].
I have wished to know why the stars shine.

Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens,
But always pity brought me back to earth;
Cries of pain reverberated in my heart
Of children in famine, of victims tortured
And of old people left helpless.
I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot,
And I too suffer.

This has been my life; I found it worth living.
Bertrand Russell

The good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge

The good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
Bertrand Russell

Love and kindness are never wasted

Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver.
Barbara De Angelis