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The first act of love is always the giving of attention.
Dallas Willard
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Showing love begins with genuinely paying attention to someone.

This quote emphasizes that the fundamental way to express love is through attentive listening and presence. True affection is often communicated not through grand gestures, but simply by being fully engaged with the person we care about, demonstrating that they are valued and important.

Themes

LoveAttentionRelationshipsCarePresence

In practice

Example use cases

Using this quote in a relationship advice workshop.

More from Dallas Willard

The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or culture, are identified as β€˜Christians’ will become disciples – students, apprentices, practitioners – of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heavens into every corner of human existence.
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So many people would like to have guidance from God because obviously, if you have a word from God, it's the best possible thing. But they don't relate that to life as a whole. Often they want guidance as a way of opting out of the responsibility of making decisions.
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What is truly profound is thought to be stupid and trivial, or worse, boring, while what is actually stupid and trivial is thought to be profound. That is what it means to fly upside down.
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The basic question 'will I obey Christ 's teaching?' is rarely taken as a serious issue. For example, to take one of Jesus' commands, that is relevant to contemporary life, I don't know of any church that actually teaches a church how to bless people who curse them, yet this is a clear command.
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When I left home after graduating high school, I left as a migrant agricultural worker with a Modern Library edition of Plato in my duffel bag. It sounds kind of crazy, but I loved it. I loved the stuff. Before I knew there was a subject called philosophy, I loved it.
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Few people arise in the morning as hungry for God as they are for cornflakes or toast and eggs.
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Quote by Dallas Willard | QuoteProject