# Would You Use a Love Potion? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 3, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477 "2005-08-03T21:17:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/21 "2005-08-04T13:46:56Z")
It depends, mainly on whether or not Sandra Bullock actually is involved. If not, then heck no. You couldn’t really enjoy the love or intimacy the other person provides because it’s based on false pretenses. Like Miller said, it’s pretty much date rape. You’ve denied also that person ever enjoying the life he/she’d have had with someone else, maybe someone that could have loved them a lot more (and maybe better) than you. You’ve denied their future spouse that happiness, their kids their very life itself, grandkids, etc, etc, etc. Now, if it was Sandra Bullock involved? Absolutely. In fact, let’s get started right now! ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/22 "2005-08-04T13:55:51Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > This is a Shrek-style potion. It creates an absolute conviction of true love in the drinker towards the dispenser of the potion, and it lasts forever. I’d do it if I were myself very much in love with the person in question, and he/she were single. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/23 "2005-08-04T14:11:55Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Lasts _forever_? No way in hell.\* I’d be sick to the teeth of the sight of her long before she ever changed her mind about me or showed any sign of independence, spirit, or even _response_ to anything I did. If by definition she loved me no matter what, I could be the most terrible, misbehaving jerk and try to _drive_ her away and she wouldn’t ever leave. If she loved me _exactly_ as I was, she wouldn’t even say, “That’s a good idea, honey, but wouldn’t it be be better to do it this way?” Or “Let’s go learn how to do this together!” Ugh. It’d be like spending eternity with a Smurf stapled to your forehead. > > \*Okay, one way in hell, and that’d be to mutually take the love potion with the other person. Dang it, I was all set to say yes, and then **Fish** here had to go and ruin it by pointing out what is in my mind the fundamental flaw of such a potion. Love, a real true and stable love, is based on loving the person for who he or she is. The potion takes that away. ---
**Author:** ![Aangelica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Aangelica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aangelica)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/24 "2005-08-04T14:33:07Z")
/heads for the drain The only time I can see the use of such a thing being even remotely acceptable is if both parties (with full knowledge of consequences) took the potion together. It would have been a godsend for arranged marriages though 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/25 "2005-08-04T14:36:40Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Even if the person in question would swear, passionately, that this WAS his or her free will? And by every test you could use, it WOULD BE his or her free will? I can easily think of other tests to prove it is NOT his or her free will. Presuming that everyone else in the world - including myself - is a reliable witness to his or her previous free-willed state is an example. No, sorry, it’s still a violation in my opinion. If I steal your car and, in the process make you forget you ever had a car, I’ve still got a car and you don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/26 "2005-08-04T14:58:07Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > It depends, mainly on whether or not Sandra Bullock actually is involved. […] Now, if it was Sandra Bullock involved? Absolutely. In fact, let’s get started right now! Houston, we have a [problem](http://www.monstergarageoutlaws.com/gallery/albums/jesse_james/bookcover.jpg)… ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/27 "2005-08-04T15:10:20Z")
It should be a rite of marriage. Then the world would be a better place. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/28 "2005-08-04T15:39:07Z")
My luck the cat would get into it before I could find Kate Beckinsale. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/29 "2005-08-04T15:55:31Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Even if the person in question would swear, passionately, that this WAS his or her free will? And by every test you could use, it WOULD BE his or her free will? This is like one of those hypothetical situations regarding lying if you knew the other person would never know, or stealing if you could never get caught. **I** would know that it wasn’t their free will. If I steal money from a rich man that will never notice, it’s still stealing. This is completely sublimating a person’s choices in life, and furthermore inherently changing them forever. Would you brainwash someone into giving you all of their money and possessions – even though the person would passionately swear that they were doing it willingly? To force them to love you would be, in my opinion, worse. Besides which, this puts a lot of responsibility on your shoulders for their happiness. If they will love you passionately no matter what because your actions have forced them to, you are forced to stay with them and treat them well even if you’re not happy. What happens if they do something that you can’t stand, or it just doesn’t work? They still love you forever, so in their heart they will always be unhappy if you break it up. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/30 "2005-08-04T16:01:40Z")
It would be a terrible violation of free will. Yeah, I’d probably have used it on an occasion or two when I was younger. It wouldn’t have been right though. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/31 "2005-08-04T20:40:28Z")
> [@Trion](#): > > No, sorry, it’s still a violation in my opinion. And you opinion is based on what, exactly? It is a _magic potion_ where _by definition_ the target’s free will is altered such that the target falls madly for the user. > [@](#): > > If I steal your car and, in the process make you forget you ever had a car, I’ve still got a car and you don’t. That may be the case; however, the example is in no way analogous to the question at hand. If I have a potion that makes you _want to **give** your car to me_, then you obtain what you desire and I obtain what I desire. The potion changes your preferences. A love potion is not a form of supernatural coercion; a love potion is a way to magically re-organize the universe so that the object of your desire loves you madly & truly. The seducer does not leave a broken person behind, but one who is better off for the seduction, and glad that it happened. The target of the love potion is going through life with all the failed relationships and lost loves that cause the rest of us so much pain. The love potion takes that away and gives the target True Love in a manner the rest of us can only hope for, but will never obtain. If you fall in love with a person, does it matter whether it was her personality, her humor, or her superfine ass? Would it matter if it was a potion? No! Because to say that it did matter, you would be violating the condition of the hypothetical. I say yes, I’d use it; and yes, I’d like it to be used on me. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/32 "2005-08-04T20:49:50Z")
To force the dispensee to love the dispenser forever? Nope. Now, to force the dispensee to fall in love with the first person they _see_?? Oh yeah baby. Sneek the potion into the Supervisors Meeting coffee pot and run like hell. Just what this office needs, luuuuuurrrrvvvvvve among the supervisory staff. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/33 "2005-08-04T21:24:23Z")
There was a great short story, I think by Jonathan Carroll, about a guy who goes to an apothecary to buy a love potion. The shriveled old witch behind the counter only sells two things: a love potion guaranteed to make your beloved treasure you forever, and a poison completely undetectable and so fatal that a single drop in your enemy’s wine will kill them instantly. The guy explains that he’s not interested in murder, no, he only wants the love potion, and how much is it? The old lady says that it’s a mere pittance, one dollar for a bottle. He gapes in astonishment and asks how she can stay in business. She explains that the poison costs ten thousand dollars a drop. He laughs, buys the love potion, and heads out the door, saying, “Well, if I ever need to kill someone, I’ll come back!” She smiles as he leaves, and says, “You’ll be back.” I love the story, and it pretty much firmed up my resolution never to use a love potion. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/34 "2005-08-04T21:25:17Z")
[QUOTE=js\_africanus] The seducer does not leave a broken person behind, but one who is better off for the seduction, and glad that it happened. Even if the seducer at some point in the relationship craps unmercifuly on the target? And continues to do so for the rest of the target’s life? True love and total misery aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, are they? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/35 "2005-08-04T21:44:42Z")
> [@CandidGamera](#): > > You hardly need a potion for that. 😉 I do believe this is a \*very \* nice compliment. Thank you, Turtle-Man. You’re my most favoritest turtle in the whole wide world. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/36 "2005-08-04T23:24:05Z")
No way in hell. What’s the point in hearing someone say ‘I love you’ if you know you forced them? I’m assuming I’d give it to someone I was in love with… once the potion was given, I’d never, ever know whether they would have fallen in love with me for real or not. Every time I looked at the person I loved, I’d be thinking about it. A horrible thing to do to them, and a horrible thing to do to myself as well. ---
**Author:** ![funeste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@funeste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funeste)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/37 "2005-08-04T23:58:52Z")
Does it work on people of the same sex? I agree that it would be a terrible violation of the victim’s will, but who am I to deny the world poetic justice when given the opportunity to use it on Fred Phelps? ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/38 "2005-08-05T00:16:14Z")
No way would I use one. I thought for a second that the “you both use it at the same time” angle added an interesting possibility, but really that wouldn’t work either. Even though it’d be mutual, you’d still never know how much was real and how much was because of the potion. So there, you have my stand: SolGrundy is solidly against the use of love potions. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/39 "2005-08-05T00:21:30Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > There was a great short story, I think by Jonathan Carroll, about a guy who goes to an apothecary to buy a love potion. The shriveled old witch behind the counter only sells two things: a love potion guaranteed to make your beloved treasure you forever, and a poison completely undetectable and so fatal that a single drop in your enemy’s wine will kill them instantly. > > The guy explains that he’s not interested in murder, no, he only wants the love potion, and how much is it? The old lady says that it’s a mere pittance, one dollar for a bottle. He gapes in astonishment and asks how she can stay in business. She explains that the poison costs ten thousand dollars a drop. > > He laughs, buys the love potion, and heads out the door, saying, “Well, if I ever need to kill someone, I’ll come back!” > > She smiles as he leaves, and says, “You’ll be back.” > > I love the story, and it pretty much firmed up my resolution never to use a love potion. > > Daniel I think you’re remembering [The Chaser](http://web.csuchico.edu/~ah24/chaser.htm), by the late, great John Collier. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477/40 "2005-08-05T00:55:02Z")
> [@Jurph](#): > > That’ll be a shot of tequila for **Sampiro**. Anyone else? 😛 _ **Tequila** _? That’d put me on the _floor_. On second thought, maybe I shouldn’t have admitted that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-love-potion/315477.md?page=3)