--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: To love is to think. And I almost forget…" description: "\"“To love is to think. And I almost forget to feel only from thinking about her. I don’t know what I want at all, even from her, and I don’t think about..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6a/alberto-caeiro-7759_ambivalence_to-love-is-to-think-and-i-almost-forget_2907391.jpg" --- # To love is to think. And I almost forget to feel only from… ![“To love is to think. And I almost forget to feel only from thinking about her. I don’t know what I want at all, even from her, and I don’t think about anything but her. I have a great animated distraction. When I want to meet her, I almost feel like not meeting her, So I don’t have to leave her…” quote by Alberto Caeiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6a/alberto-caeiro-7759_ambivalence_to-love-is-to-think-and-i-almost-forget_2907391.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6a/alberto-caeiro-7759_ambivalence_to-love-is-to-think-and-i-almost-forget_2907391.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6a/alberto-caeiro-7759_ambivalence_to-love-is-to-think-and-i-almost-forget_2907391.jpg) > ““To love is to think. And I almost forget to feel only from thinking about her. I don’t know what I want at all, even from her, and I don’t think about anything but her. I have a great animated distraction. When I want to meet her, I almost feel like not meeting her, So I don’t have to leave her afterwards. And I prefer thinking about her, because it’s like I’m afraid of her. I don’t know what I want at all, and I don’t want to know what I want. All I want to do is think about her. I’m asking nothing of nobody, not even her, except to think.”” [Alberto Caeiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-caeiro/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker is overwhelmed by obsessive thought about a beloved, preferring intellectualization over genuine feeling, and feels fear of intimacy, leading to a paradoxical desire to think without acting. **In simple terms:** Obsessive thinking replaces feeling, creating fear of real connection. Key Takeaway Recognize when thinking replaces feeling and allow authentic emotion. Themes love obsession fear intimacy self‑deception Mood conflicted melancholic Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - romantic relationships - self‑reflection - therapy - creative writing Key Concepts psychology existentialism attachment theory Questions to Reflect On - What does thinking about someone replace in your life? - How can you balance thought and feeling? A Different Perspective Thinking alone cannot replace emotional experience; it may deepen isolation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ambivalence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambivalence/) [Complexity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexity/) [Confusion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/confusion/) [Emotion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/emotion/) [Longing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Pantheism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pantheism/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [“It’s an already inside outside, The philosophers say it’s the soul But it’s not the soul: it’s the animal or the man itself In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-caeiro/it-s-an-already-inside-outside-the-philosophers-say-it-s-the-soul-but/) [Alberto Caeiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-caeiro/) > [“Now I sense the perfume of flowers like seeing a new thing. 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I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-gregory/as-long-as-i-m-between-home-and-the-clinic-i-do-all-right-but-out-in/) [Julie Gregory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-gregory/) > [Reality is very, very contradictory, and so I try to write just perfecting what I see, what I read, what I feel, in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eduardo-galeano/reality-is-very-very-contradictory-and-so-i-try-to-write-just/) [Eduardo Galeano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eduardo-galeano/) > [Everything we think and feel (and keep thinking and feeling) creates, deep within, the brain we have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-e-ledoux/everything-we-think-and-feel-and-keep-thinking-and-feeling-creates/) Joseph E. LeDoux > [“I try to say what I feel Without thinking about what I feel. 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I bring a new Universe to the Universe Because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-caeiro/even-so-i-m-somebody-i-m-the-discoverer-of-nature-i-m-the-argonaut-of/) [Alberto Caeiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-caeiro/) > [“the world wasn't made for us to think about it (to think is to have eyes that aren't well) but to look at it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-caeiro/the-world-wasn-t-made-for-us-to-think-about-it-to-think-is-to-have/) [alberto caeiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-caeiro/) > [“And I find a happiness in the fact of accepting — In the sublimely scientific and difficult fact of accepting the inevitable natural.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-caeiro/and-i-find-a-happiness-in-the-fact-of-accepting-in-the-sublimely/) [Alberto Caeiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-caeiro/) > [“I’m a keeper of flocks. The flock is my thoughts And my thoughts are all sensations. 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But what does someone who hates and loves want with a sunset?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-caeiro/the-man-stopped-talking-and-was-looking-at-the-sunset-but-what-does/) [Alberto Caeiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-caeiro/) [Explore all 78 Alberto Caeiro quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-caeiro/) ## More Ambivalence quotes > [The less obvious hurdle is that of preparing parents emotionally and putting forward realistic images of parenthood and motherhood. There also needs to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessica-valenti/the-less-obvious-hurdle-is-that-of-preparing-parents-emotionally-and/) [Jessica Valenti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessica-valenti/) > [“In starlit nights I saw you, So cruelly you kissed me. Your lips a magic world, Your sky all hung with jewels. 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Hanging and floating are states of ambivalence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-bourgeois/horizontality-is-a-desire-to-give-up-to-sleep-verticality-is-an/) [Louise Bourgeois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-bourgeois/) [Browse all 121 Ambivalence quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambivalence/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“To love is to think. And I almost forget to feel only from thinking about her. I don’t know what I want at all, even from her, and I don’t think about anything but her. I have a great animated distraction. When I want to meet her, I almost feel like not meeting her, So I don’t have to leave her afterwards. And I prefer thinking about her, because it’s like I’m afraid of her. I don’t know what I want at all, and I don’t want to know what I want. All I want to do is think about her. 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