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From a philosophical perspective, love has been categorized into three major types, using the Greek words eros, philia, and agape.

Eros refers to love that is passionate, intense, and sexual, even erotic. However, Plato held that, deep down, eros actually seeks transcendental beauty, but human beauty reminds one of that transcendent beauty.

Philia is fondness and appreciation of the other, beyond self. It is friendship, family loyalty, community ties, love for one’s work, and the like. Philia is associated with “brotherly,” as in Philadelphia (phila-delphi, city of brotherly love).

Agape refers to God’s love for His/Her children and to humanity’s love for one another. Such love does not seek anything in return for its expression. However, it has an ethical standard and may therefore impartially determine another’s warranting love—something we acknowledge today as tough love, meaning a love that calls the other to higher levels of behavior. In the New Testament, written in Greek, many of the “love” statements use the word agape.

One makes mistakes: that is life. But it is never quite a mistake to have loved.

Romain Rolland, Summer