Dorthy Day (1897 - 1980 )

Dorthy Speaks: On Love

“When it comes down to it, even on the natural plane, it is much happier and more enlivening to love than to be loved.”

 “True love is delicate and kind, full of gentle perception and understanding, full of beauty and grace, full of joy unutterable.There should be some flavor of this in all our love for others. We are all one. We are one flesh in the Mystical Body as man and woman are said to be one flesh in marriage.

With such a love one would see all things new; we would begin to see people as they really are, as God sees them.”

“I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least.”

  “To love with understanding and without understanding. To love blindly, and to folly. To see only what is loveable. To think only of these things. To see the best in everyone around, their virtues rather than their faults. To see Christ in them!”

"As Dostoevski said: 'Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams.”

“Love and ever more love is the only solution to every problem that comes up.
If we love each other enough, we will bear with each other's faults and burdens.
If we love enough, we are going to light a fire in the hearts of others.
And it is love that will burn out the sins and hatreds that sadden us. It is love that will make us want to do great things for each other. No sacrifice and no suffering will then seem too much.”

“The final word is love.”