Even if I speak with the words of angels and men, if I don't have love, it is like the sound of brass or a tinkling cymbal. Even if I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and possess all knowledge, and even if I have faith enough to move mountains, but I don't have love, I am nothing. And even if I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and even if I sacrifice my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. Love is never boastful nor conceited nor rude. It is not self seeking nor easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongdoing. It does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, trusts, hopes and preserves.

Love never fails, unlike words, understanding and thought, which all cease, fail and fade away. Words, understanding and thought are not whole, but when that which is perfect and wholesome arrives, that which is not whole is abandoned. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But when I became an adult, I put away childish things.

For now, we see through a glass, darkly; but with love, as if face to face. Now my understaning is partial; but with love I will know even as I know myself. There are three things that last forever: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them all is love.
- from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians, Chapter 13