February is thought of as the month of love, with Valentine’s Day taking center stage. But Cupid’s arrows have little to do with true love. You and I have the capacity for deep and abiding love because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). Because we are the recipients of supernatural love, we can love others with a sacrificial love beyond our own natural abilities.

So, in honor of this true, sacrificial love known in the Greek as agape, here are some quotes for you to enjoy!

1.    “Forgive and give as if it were your last opportunity. Love like there’s no tomorrow, and if tomorrow comes, love again.” ~ Max Lucado

2.     “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” ~ 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NIV)

3.    “Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.” ~ C.S. Lewis, Answers to Questions on Christianity

4.    “But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” ~ Romans 5:8

5.    “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” ~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a (NIV)

6.    “You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.” ~ Amy Carmichael

7.    “Chivalry in love has nothing to do with the sweetness of the appearance. It has everything to do with the tenderness of a heart determined to serve.” ~ Ravi Zacharias

8.    “Better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.” ~ Saint Augustine

9.     “The desire of love is to give. The desire of lust is to take.” ~ Author Unknown

10.      “You weren’t an accident. You weren’t mass produced. You aren’t an assembly-line product. You were deliberately planned, specifically gifted, and lovingly positioned on the earth by the Master Craftsman.” ~ Max Lucado

11.     “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (1 John 4:12)

12.      “Though our feelings come and go, God’s love for us does not.” ~ C. S. Lewis

13.      “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies: probably because they are generally the same people.” ~ G.K. Chesterton

14.      “We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

15.    “To the loved, a word of affection is a morsel; but to the love-starved, a word of affection can be a feast.” ~ Max Lucado

16.     “Truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy.” ~ Warren Wiersbe

17.     “An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge.” ~ John Wesley

18.     “Do not waste time bothering whether you “love” your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone you will presently come to love him.” ~ C. S. Lewis

19.     “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and truth.” (1 John 3:18)

20.     “God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus. ” ~ Max Lucado

21.     “Without love, benevolence becomes egotism.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

22.    “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

23.     “Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love.” ~ Francis of Assisi

24.     “Dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7)

25.    “The things that we love tell us what we are.” ~ Thomas Aquinas

26.     “Love is a command, not just a feeling. Somehow, in the romantic world of music and theater we have made love to be what it is not. We have so mixed it with beauty and charm and sensuality and contact that we have robbed it of its higher call of cherishing and nurturing.” ~ Ravi Zacharias

27.     “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (Colossians 3:14)

28.     “To love God is the greatest of virtues; to be loved by God is the greatest of blessings. ~ Author Unknown

29.    “Love leaves a legacy. How you treated other people, not your wealth or accomplishments, is the most enduring impact you can leave on earth.” ~ Rick Warren

30.    “Love is not a feeling but a determined act of will, which always results in determined acts of self-giving. Love is the willing, joyful desire to put the welfare of others above our own.” ~ John MacArthur