If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
The Bible, 1 Corinthians 13
The four degrees of the Christian’s love.
1. Man loves himself for his own sake.
2. Man loves God but for his own advantage.
3. Man loves God for God’s sake.
4. Man loves himself for the sake of God.
Bernard of Clairvaux
You will find all that is lacking in your heart in the heart of Jesus, dying on the cross. Then you will be enabled to love those whom you would naturally, in your pride, hate and crush.
F. Fénelon
Love is superior to all extraordinary gifts. It is better than the gift of tongues; than the gifts of prophecy and knowledge; and than the gift of miracles. All outward works of charity without it are worthless. Love has this superiority, first, because of its inherent excellence; and secondly, because of its perpetuity.
Charles Hodge
Since disciples of Jesus are to be known by the love they have to one another (John 13:35), we will cherish Christian love as of prime importance.
Moravian Covenant for Christian living