Is it worse to have loved and lost or to have never loved at all?

Answer 1

loved and lost

Answer 2

If its true love, then its better to have loved and lost.

If it was just a cheap trick, I think you never loved and that's much, much worse.

At least if you loved, then you had some degree of happiness. Although many authors, particularly the Russian Realists like Tolstoy and Dostoyevski would suggest that love is not pleasure but pain and all in the world is lost from its inception, I disagree.

First, you can love many people in your life. There is nothing wrong with that. I know, there are those who would say its sad that someone might actually advocate polyamory. But that's not my point here. Many people have loved many mates in their lives. And in those many instances it was true love each time.

You could read Flannery O'Conner, and learn that those who have loved and lost are still doomed to some kind of upset. But O'Conner never picks up the pieces after the heart is shattered. She only leads you to the break.

Diverging away from the above, I think on the whole, if you've loved and lost you are much better off. This way you can always redeem yourself by loving again.

If you never loved at all, then that would make you a psychopathologically cold person and you would be doomed to social failure and broken relationships until you finally learned to love.

I think the most important love is that which is unconditional. Nothing can take it away, even in the absence of the significant other in your life. Unconditional love is much more forgiving, longer lasting and softens the heart. Any other form of love is nothing more than a fatuous or fallacious sentiment masquerading as love.

So the short n' skinny on this one is: love and hope not to lose. But if you've loved and lost, there's always plenty of more chances out there.

Answer 3

The worst thing is to fall in love with some one only to find out that there idea of love is to only love themselves. when you get over the shock you realise that yes you can get through this and there is life after that ??? and yes life will go on and it will get better.But it dose leave you feeling on your guard all the time you find it very hard to trust any one so i suppose the answer is yes it is better to have loved and lost because it teaches you that you wont break and that you are strong then you though.

Answer 4

To have loved and lost I think. But this is very painful at the time. Time is a great healer and it's nice to look back years later on the good times and forget the bad bits.

Answer 5

experiencing love whether it be physical and/or emotional is crucial to us. Its one of the many things that makes you feel alive, makes one feel needed or wanted, love is something that drives us, pushes us forward, makes us do better, feel better, it makes the impossible seem possible, and if one experiences love only once in their life then it was a life worth living.. so I think it is better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all. When you love , you give yourself, you expose every weakness you have and if you are lucky those weaknesses wont be exploited, but rather,accepted.

Love isnt free-it demands a lot but it also pays back a lot.

Answer 6

It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Answer 7

Yep. Once you get over having lost love, you'll be able to look back and smile, time being a great healer and all that.

Never having loved would be very tragic dont you think?

Answer 8

I wouldn't know because I've never been in love before. But I do know that going your life without experiencing it would be a total drag. I've heard wonderful things about it and it sounds as if it would be worth it if only to have a memory to look back on. I don't even have that.

Answer 9

Loved and lost. As this is having smelt the most alluring smell, tasted the finest taste, heard the sweetest sound, seen the most beautiful sight and been touched in the most delicate way then to have it all torn away.

Never having loved at all is defending yourself from this potential loss.

Answer 10

Neither is really worse than the other to me, it is really how you choose to respond to your individual situation regarding relationships that matters. Lots of people do not get loved in this life and maybe that is better for them. They are able to find a spiritual connection and sense of love for others even if it is not reciprocated.

Answer 11

to never have loved at all would be worse. Love surrounds us all the time--to never have experienced that would be a shame but I do believe that everyone experiences love in some sort of fashion at different points in our lives.