# How do you define love? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 24, 2018, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508 "2018-07-24T15:20:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/21 "2018-07-24T19:53:29Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > Something about baby not hurting me. Not hurting me. No more. Nice. I wish there was a “thumbs up” smiley. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/22 "2018-07-24T20:00:26Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Originally by Robert A. Heinlein, isn’t it? Not bad at all for a short definition. I’d interpret “happiness” in the “old-fashioned” sense of flourishing, having a good life, [eudaimonia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudaimonia), rather than just as a feeling. That’s where I first encountered it phrased that way. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/23 "2018-07-24T20:08:01Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > Something about baby not hurting me. Not hurting me. No more. This was my first thought, followed closely by, “a sweet old fashioned notion”. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/24 "2018-07-24T20:14:09Z")
> [@Sefton](#): > > Love is like oxygen! Love is a many splendored thing! Love lifts us up where we belong! All you need is love! I think you mean: Love is like oxygen. You get too much you get too high, not enough and you’re gonna die. Love gets you high ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/25 "2018-07-24T20:15:53Z")
It is a flower, and you, its only seed. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/26 "2018-07-24T20:33:16Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > I think you mean: Love is like oxygen. You get too much you get too high, not enough and you’re gonna die. Love gets you high I was quoting the excellent movie _Moulin Rouge_. I’m not really the only person to see it, am I? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/27 "2018-07-24T20:38:21Z")
> [@Sefton](#): > > I was quoting the excellent movie _Moulin Rouge_. I’m not really the only person to see it, am I? And that line in that film, in turn, was quoting [Sweet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Is_Like_Oxygen), [Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Is_a_Many-Splendored_Thing_(song)), [Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_Where_We_Belong), and [The Beatles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_You_Need_Is_Love). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/28 "2018-07-24T21:15:03Z")
> [@Sefton](#): > > I was quoting the excellent movie _Moulin Rouge_. I’m not really the only person to see it, am I? I saw the movie when it came out but I don’t remember that. When I saw your post, I too thought along the lines of Omar Little. I just looked up the song, and I thought it was by ELO but no, it was by a band called Sweet, from way back in Jan 1978. 40 years ago. Sheesh! ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/29 "2018-07-24T21:23:10Z")
Love is blind. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/30 "2018-07-24T21:48:05Z")
Love is a wreath of pretty flowers which smell _BAD._ ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/31 "2018-07-24T21:56:18Z")
Love is rendering a significant piece of your head space to another individual. That’s also the definition of hate. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/32 "2018-07-24T22:05:37Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Love is rendering a significant piece of your head space to another individual. > That’s also the definition of hate. I’ve heard that love and hate have similarities, but declaring them synonyms could have odd effects when you swap the ‘equivalent’ words for each other in various songs and popular sayings. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/33 "2018-07-24T22:07:40Z")
“Love is a beautiful cycle of song, A medley of extemporania, Love is a thing that can never go wrong, And I am the Queen of Romania !” ---
**Author:** ![BlueInfinity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BlueInfinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueInfinity)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/34 "2018-07-24T23:45:26Z")
L is for the way you look at me. O is for the only one I see. V is very very extraordinary. E is even more than anyone that you adore. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/35 "2018-07-24T23:51:54Z")
According to _Altered States_, love is when you prefer the senseless pain you inflict on each other to the pain you would otherwise inflict on yourselves. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/36 "2018-07-25T00:04:14Z")
An illusory state that is more chemicals than anything else that aided in our survival but that doesn’t actually exist outside of our own heads. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/37 "2018-07-25T01:09:34Z")
Love ain’t nothing but sex misspelled. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/38 "2018-07-25T09:37:53Z")
Aristotle said, “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies” ---
**Author:** ![Delicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@Delicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delicious)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/39 "2018-07-25T10:25:33Z")
I’d say that maybe it’s like a window or perhaps an open door. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508/40 "2018-07-25T10:30:35Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > When someone else’s happiness is essential to your own. Isn’t that kinda self-serving, though? That way, whatever I do for the other doesn’t have them in mind, but merely myself—I want to be happy, and since by dint of fate or whatever my happiness is shackled to theirs, that means I gotta make them happy. So their happiness just becomes a means for mine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-love/818508.md?page=3)