Quotation
Last reviewed:
“The word 'love' is most often defined as a noun, yet we would all love better if we used it as a verb.”
bell hooks · Feminist theory · Modern · 2000
What does it mean?
The word love is most often defined as a noun, yet we would all love better if we used it as a verb. As a noun, love looks like a thing you have or fall into. As a verb, it is something you do, repeatedly, and can do better or worse. A rival reading says grammar is not ethics, and that changing 'love' from noun to verb leaves the deeds untouched. She agrees that the grammar is not magic.
Did bell hooks really say this?
The library’s label is Well attested. hooks's English in All About Love. The sentence is widely quoted from the book and matches her argument that love works better as something we do.
Where it comes from
All About Love: New Visions
Approximate date: 2000.
How to use it
Rewrite one sentence about your own week so that love is a verb with an object and a practice, not a possession you are waiting to feel. The rewrite is the lesson she wants from the grammar. If the rewritten sentence still has no deed in it, the grammar has not done the work.
A mindset reading
She writes in a feminist ethics that refuses to separate love from justice. The verb is a way of saying love is action in public and private life, not a private glow. A private glow that never becomes a verb is, on this page, the problem the noun was hiding.
Understand the philosophy
Confirm the exact sentence in the 2000 edition if you need a page. It is standardly quoted as hers and it fits the book. The fit is why people stop checking. The check is still the right habit.
- love
- self
- ethics
FAQ
What does it mean?
The word love is most often defined as a noun, yet we would all love better if we used it as a verb. As a noun, love looks like a thing you have or fall into. As a verb, it is something you do, repeatedly, and can do better or worse. A rival reading says grammar is not ethics, and that changing 'love' from noun to verb leaves the deeds untouched. She agrees that the grammar is not magic.
Did bell hooks really say this?
Well attested. hooks's English in All About Love. The sentence is widely quoted from the book and matches her argument that love works better as something we do.
Which work is it in?
All About Love: New Visions Approximate date: 2000.