love

Love is an emotion involving strong attraction, affection, emotional attachment or concern for a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue, good habit, deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of meanings is that the love of a mother differs from the love of a spouse, which, in turn, differs from the love of food.

Love is considered to be both positive and negative, with its virtue representing kindness, compassion, and affection—"the unselfish, loyal, and benevolent concern for the good of another"—and its vice representing a moral flaw akin to vanity, selfishness, amour-propre, and egotism. It may also describe compassionate and affectionate actions towards other humans, oneself, or animals. In its various forms, love acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships, and owing to its central psychological importance, is one of the most common themes in the creative arts. Love has been postulated to be a function that keeps human beings together against menaces and to facilitate the continuation of the species.