These 60 Quotes Explain Why We Need Unconditional Love So Damn Much (2024)

Unconditional love — in its most simplest form, and as explained in the best unconditional love quotes — means appreciating someone else for who they truly are. It means loving them when they are unlovable, and in spite of their imperfections and mistakes.

At a deeper level, it means never, ever questioning whether you'll feel any other way toward a person. It's just a comfort knowing that this is a constant in your life. It will always just "be."

When you think of unconditional love, the first thing you think of is the love a parent has for a child. But most of us strive to have those same feelings toward our friends, family and especially our lovers. You want to be a person who helps them achieve their dreams and be there to celebrate with them when they do. And if they don't and their hearts break, you offer to pick up the broken pieces. You do it all because you know they would do the same for you.

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We hope you enjoy them and recognize the feelings as ones that bring true meaning to your life.

Here are the 60 best unconditional love quotes to share with your love.

1. "Love hard when there is love to be had. Because perfect guys don’t exist, but there’s always one guy that is perfect for you." — Bob Marley

2. "Because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have."

3. “Unconditional love really exists in each of us. It is part of our deep inner being. It is not so much an active emotion as a state of being.” — Ram Dass

4. “Almost all of you misunderstand what unconditional love is. It is holding vibrational alignment with who you are no matter what is going on around you.” — Abraham Hicks

5. "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind." — William Shakespeare, "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

6. "Love me without restriction. Trust me without fear. Want me without demand. Accept me for who I am."

7. “Love is so unconditional; love liberates; love is the reason why I do what I do, and so I think it is the greatest gift we have.” — BeBe Winans

8. “Until we have seen someone’s darkness we don’t really know who they are. Until we have forgiven someone’s darkness, we don’t really know what love is.” — Marianne Williamson

9. “Find people who love you unconditionally, surround yourself with them, and bring them the same level of intensity.” — Sean Stephenson

10. “When you look into your mother’s eyes, you know that is the purest love you can find on this earth.” — Mitch Albom, "For One More Day"

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11. “When the beauty of your soul kisses your heart you will know true love. It’s bliss and unconditional sweetness will leave you forever changed.” — Judy Secore

12. "They say you have to earn the right to be loved; no, love is unconditional, if you love someone, they don't have to earn it. But. The right to tell someone that you love them? That has to be earned. You have to earn the right to be believed.” ― C. JoyBell C.

13. "Nothing you become will disappoint me; I have no preconception that I'd like to see you be or do. I have no desire to forsee you, only to discover you. You can't disappoint me.” ― Mary Haskell

14. “Love — not dim and blind but so far-seeing that it can glimpse around corners, around bends and twists and illusion; instead of overlooking faults love sees through hem to the secret inside.” ― Vera Nazarian, Salt of the Air

15. “To be brave is to love someone unconditionally, without expecting anything in return." — Madonna

16. "I do not want to change anything in you. I love you the way you are."

17. “Love her but leave her wild.” ― Atticus

18. “Love may be harder to find in some people, but when they do love you know it must be something marvelous.” ― Criss Jami, Killosophy

19. “This fire that we call Loving is too strong for human minds. But just right for human souls.” ― Aberjhani, Elemental: The Power of Illuminated Love

20. "Once you learn to accept and love them for who they are, you subconsciously learn to love yourself unconditionally." — Yvonne Pierre, "The Day My Soul Cried: A Memoir"

21. "I don't want someone who sees the good about me. I want someone who sees the bad and still loves me."

22. “To love everyone unconditionally does not mean to give everyone your unconditional time. Sometimes, to love completely, we must never see someone again. This, too, is love. This is giving someone the freedom to exist and be happy, even if it must be without you.” ― Vironika Tugaleva

23. “But I give best when I give from that deeper place; when I give simply, freely and generously, and sometimes for no particular reason. I give best when I give from my heart.” ― Steve Goodier

24. “Unconditional love is an illogical notion, but such a great and powerful one.” ― A.J. Jacobs, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

25. “You don't love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.”

26. “To love without need or without expectation of restitution, that is how we ought to love.” ― Criss Jami, Killosophy

27. “Only love that continues to flow in the face of anger, blame, and indifference can be called love. All else is simply a transaction.” ― Vironika Tugaleva, The Love Mindset: An Unconventional Guide to Healing and Happiness

28. “Once you know this kind of love, you will never question love again. You’ll know it when you see it. You’ll know it when you feel it. You will never be confused by something that is something else.” ― Kate McGahan

29. “The little girl expects no declaration of tenderness from her doll. She loves it, & that's all. It is thus that we should love.” ― Remy de Gourmont, Philosophic Nights in Paris,: Being Selections from Promenades Philosophiques

30. "If you just believe in me, I will love you endlessly." — Mariah Carey, "Anytime You Need A Friend"

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31. "Actual love, as in unconditional love, doesn't mean you love everything about the person. It means you don't need them to be different than they are for you to be happy."

32. “This is what our love is––a sacred pattern of unbroken unity sewn flawlessly invisible inside all other images, thoughts, smells, and sounds.” ― Aberjhani, The River of Winged Dreams

33. “What's the point of opening yourself up to your friends if they don't notice your vulnerable state? The point of it all is to love friends completely and utterly, at their best and worst, and to love more than just the good things.” ― Arka Pain

34. “What he does with my love is neither my problem nor my concern.” ― Glennon Doyle Melton, Love Warrior

35. "As we grow older together, as we continue to change with age, there is one thing that will never change. I will always keep falling in love with you." — Karen Clodfelder

36. "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." — Martin Luther King, Jr.

37. "I think modern medicine has become like a prophet offering a life free of pain. It is nonsense. The only thing I know that truly heals people is unconditional love." — Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

38. "I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me, they are the role model for being alive." — Gilda Radner

39. "The most memorable people in life will be the friends who loved you when you weren't very lovable."

40. "If someone is facing a difficult time, one of the kindest things you can do for him or her is to say, 'I'm going to love you through this.'" — Molly Friedenfeld

41. "The beginning of love is to let those we love to be perfectly themselves and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise, we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.” — Thomas Merton

42. “Love is when the other person’s happiness is more important than yours.” — H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

43. “Love… what is love? Love is to love someone for who they are, who they were, and who they will be.” — Chris Moore

44. “I was placed in this universe to love you, and I don’t take something that important lightly.” — A.R. Asher

45. "If a dog can love us unconditionally, why can't we love each other the same way?" — Carol McKibben, "Luke's Tale"

46. "Find a heart that will love you at your worst and arms that will hold you at your weakest."

47. “I don’t want someone who stands next to me because they are lonely. I want someone who stands next to me because they can’t imagine standing next to anyone else.” — Mr. Burr

48. “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” — Maya Angelou

49 “Listen, I love you. I know sometimes I’m a little bit of a disappointment. I rarely know what I want or think before I act. Still, I want you to know that in a lifetime of rushed decisions, wrong turns, and spectacular messes, you’re the first thing that’s felt right.” — Beau Taplin

50. "I love you without knowing how or when or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride." — Pablo Neruda​, "One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII"

51. "When someone else's happiness is your happiness. That is love." — Lana Del Rey

52. “I know of no greater happiness than to be with you all the time, without interruption, without end.” — Franz Kafka

53. “Love isn’t finding a perfect person. It’s seeing an imperfect person perfectly.” — Sam Keen

54. “She loved with a messy heart, he hugged her with fragile bones, she touched him with scarred hands, he kissed her with bruised lips. They whispered all their flaws and inhaled the storm together.” — Randy Mascorro

55. "The only way love can last a lifetime is if it unconditional." — Stephen Kendrick

56. “I have thought my entire life I needed seas or mountains or magnificent city lights to be happy. Truth is: I do not care where I am as long as I have you.” — Christopher Poindexter

57. “They didn’t agree on much. In fact, they didn’t agree on anything. They fought all the time and challenged each other every day. But despite their differences, they had one important thing in common. They were crazy about each other.” — Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

58. “She wasn’t afraid of my demons, and I did not fear her madness. We saw beyond those things that life does to a person. And underneath it all, there’s a beautiful soul that just wants to be loved.” — J.M. Storm

59. “I love you with every piece of me. I will love and love and love until I have nothing left, I will make more out of nothing that lives where everything once did. I would dismantle me to put you back together again.” — Tyler Knott Gregson

60. “Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth “you owe me.” Look what happens with a love like that. It lights the whole sky.” — Hafiz

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Alexandra Churchill is a digital editor based in New York City who currently works for Martha Stewart Living. Her work has been featured on numerous sites including The Huffington Post, Her Campus, USA TODAY College, and Northshore and Ocean Home magazines.