Love is an emotion of strong
affection and personal
attachment. In philosophical
context, love is a virtue
representing all of human
kindness, compassion, and
affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels. Love may also be described as actions
towards others (or oneself)
based on compassion, or as
actions towards others based on affection.
When discussed in the abstract, love usually refers to
interpersonal love, an experience felt by a person for another person. Love often involves caring for or identifying with a
person or thing, including oneself In addition to cross-cultural differences in understanding love, ideas about love have also changed greatly over time. Some historians date modern
conceptions of romantic love to courtly Europe during or after the Middle Ages, although the prior existence of romantic attachments is attested by ancient love poetry.
