Where did the expression 'a thin line between love and hate' come from?

Question

In my mind love is so far from hate that I don't see why the line would be thin!

I'm 30 so I think I qualify for living long enough to experience the emotions of failed relationships. However, I have never hated someone I once loved. I've only ever felt either disappointed or relieved!

Answer 1

Because the opposite of love is not hate...it's indifference. When you hate someone it's because you actually still love that person and don't want to have those feelings anymore so you choose hate.

Most people don't understand this until they got thru it and it aint from a movie people because there was a song looong before that movie. So obviously this expression is older than any of us remember since they are making songs and movies about it.

Answer 2

To me, love & hate is a thin line. Its about passion. It's like fire & ice. I mean (for me anyway) I could never "hate" a person that I didnt care about on some level. Think about it, love & hate kind of use the same area of the body to feel. And it takes passion either way.

Answer 3

I dont know where it came from but boy is the truth!!! there is a thin line between love and hate and is really thin............ you just havent had the experience of hating somebody you love yet hope you never have too,but its very true.... just keep it in mind and someday you will find your self saying ohhhhhhhh i get it!!!!!!!

Answer 4

from when to be married all you had to do was jump over a line together the line was a symbolic thing
as sign of leaping into the future to gather. and stepping into a new life .
you would not jump the line with someone you hated so that's how it came about . the line could be a stick or a line drawn in the dirt with a stick

Answer 5

it means that once you have loved and that is turned around into a ugly emotion, you start to question yourself, how can i one day love this person and then hate them the next, the line is thin, the love you had for them wasn't that thick if you can hate them after loving them, its call HURT AND PAIN, there is a song with the same title, tells you in detail what can happen if you hurt someone who once loved you

Answer 6

The pretenders pretty much lay it out for ya...
you think you love somebody and they love you, so you do things and think the other person wont mind, because they love you. but this just builds up the hurt inside, but it doesn't show , cause you are both trying to love each other. then that line is crossed, the threshold broken. that's the thin line.

Answer 7

They say that it is a thin line because both involve you to be passionate about someone/something. A lot of people assume the opposite of love is hate. It's really indifference.

Answer 8

It's the degree of passion. It takes you to the same place as the degree of hate. A thin line seperates that kind of passion on either side.

Answer 9

Well this shows that you haven't lived long enough to have gone through the pain of dealing with someone that you love more than life who can do something that makes you despise them at that time for that situation. Keep living, you'll figure it out, and no body will have to explain it.

Answer 10

Well if you've ever found a loved one cheating on you, then she tells you that she's always hated your guts, so you black out and when you wake up shes dead and theres blood all over you....

ahem, anyways it is hard to get to that line, but when you do, you'll see how thin it really is.

Answer 11

Both are such strong and over-powering emotions that love can turn to hate in an instant.

Personal example: My ex, whom I loved very much, turned my son against me. I still get the same feelings to touch her when she is around but now it is because I want to choke her instead of hold her hand.