--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is only one question: / how to love…" description: "\"There is only one question: / how to love this world.\" — Mary Oliver" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c31/mary-oliver-570_how-to-love_there-is-only-one-question-how-to-love-t_3008022.jpg" --- # There is only one question: / how to love this world. ![“There is only one question: / how to love this world.” quote by Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c31/mary-oliver-570_how-to-love_there-is-only-one-question-how-to-love-t_3008022.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c31/mary-oliver-570_how-to-love_there-is-only-one-question-how-to-love-t_3008022.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c31/mary-oliver-570_how-to-love_there-is-only-one-question-how-to-love-t_3008022.jpg) > “There is only one question: / how to love this world.” [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The essential question is how to love the world fully and actively. **In simple terms:** How to love the world? Key Takeaway Cultivate love for the world. Themes love environment purpose Mood hopeful reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal reflection - activism - environmental stewardship Key Concepts ethical philosophy existentialism Questions to Reflect On - What actions show love for the world? - How does love transform daily life? A Different Perspective Loving the world can be challenged by cynicism and apathy. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [How to love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/how-to-love/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Love yourself. Then forget it. Then, love the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/love-yourself-then-forget-it-then-love-the-world/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [Look, I want to love this world as though it's the last chance I'm ever going to get to be alive and know it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/look-i-want-to-love-this-world-as-though-it-s-the-last-chance-i-m/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [I believe we all have one true love, somewhere in this world I do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/britney-spears/i-believe-we-all-have-one-true-love-somewhere-in-this-world-i-do/) [Britney Spears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/britney-spears/) > [Do you love this world? Do you cherish your humble and silky life? Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath? Do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/do-you-love-this-world-do-you-cherish-your-humble-and-silky-life-do/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/i-don-t-want-to-end-up-simply-having-visited-this-world/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [Everyone can fall in love .. But the question is .. Who can love truly ?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma/everyone-can-fall-in-love-but-the-question-is-who-can-love-truly/) [Emma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma/) > [At the critical juncture in all human relationships, there is only one question: What would love do now?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neale-donald-walsch/at-the-critical-juncture-in-all-human-relationships-there-is-only-one/) [Neale Donald Walsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neale-donald-walsch/) > [Love fundamentally is the most powerful ecstasy of consciousness, and even if a person goes blind, there is no question when you are in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harbhajan-singh-yogi/love-fundamentally-is-the-most-powerful-ecstasy-of-consciousness-and/) [Harbhajan Singh Yogi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harbhajan-singh-yogi/) > [Love should be like breathing. It should be just a quality in you, wherever you are, with whomsoever you are, or even if you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/love-should-be-like-breathing-it-should-be-just-a-quality-in-you/) [Ritu Ghatourey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-ghatourey/) > [Successful gardening is not necessarily a question of wealth, it is a question of love, taste, and knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vita-sackville-west/successful-gardening-is-not-necessarily-a-question-of-wealth-it-is-a/) [Vita Sackville-West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vita-sackville-west/) > [Love is the question; Love is the answer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-johnston/love-is-the-question-love-is-the-answer/) [Daniel Johnston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-johnston/) > [The essential question is not, however, how love began, but whether it is growing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-stalker/the-essential-question-is-not-however-how-love-began-but-whether-it/) [James Stalker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-stalker/) > [God is Love. We eventually have to ask ourselves the question; why was Love nailed to a cross?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-john-paul-ii/god-is-love-we-eventually-have-to-ask-ourselves-the-question-why-was/) [Pope John Paul II](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-john-paul-ii/) > [“The question is not whether you will love, hurt, dream, and die. It is what you will love, why you will hurt, when you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-sanderson/the-question-is-not-whether-you-will-love-hurt-dream-and-die-it-is/) [Brandon Sanderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-sanderson/) > [The real question is, can you love the real me? Not the perfect person you want me to be, not that image you had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christine-feehan/the-real-question-is-can-you-love-the-real-me-not-the-perfect-person/) [Christine Feehan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christine-feehan/) ## More by Mary Oliver > [Belief isn't always easy. But this much I have learned--- if not enough else--- to live with my eyes open.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/belief-isn-t-always-easy-but-this-much-i-have-learned-if-not-enough/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [In this universe we are given two gifts: the ability to love and the ability to question. Which are, at the same time, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/in-this-universe-we-are-given-two-gifts-the-ability-to-love-and-the/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [Poetry is one of the original arts, and it began, as did all the fine arts, within the original wilderness of the earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/poetry-is-one-of-the-original-arts-and-it-began-as-did-all-the-fine/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [The dream of my life is to lie down by a slow river and stare at the light in the trees - to learn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/the-dream-of-my-life-is-to-lie-down-by-a-slow-river-and-stare-at-the/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/tell-me-what-is-it-you-plan-to-do-with-your-one-wild-and-precious-life/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“All important ideas must include the trees, the mountains, and the rivers. • To understand many things you must reach out of your own condition.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/all-important-ideas-must-include-the-trees-the-mountains-and-the/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“Sometimes I think, were I just a little rougher made, I would go altogether to the woods—to my work entirely, and solitude, a few…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/sometimes-i-think-were-i-just-a-little-rougher-made-i-would-go/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“First Snow The snow began here this morning and all day continued, its white rhetoric everywhere calling us back to why, how, whence such beauty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/first-snow-the-snow-began-here-this-morning-and-all-day-continued-its/) [mary oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“What can I say that I have not said before? So I’ll say it again. The leaf has a song in it. Stone is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/what-can-i-say-that-i-have-not-said-before-so-i-ll-say-it-again-the/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [The sea is the most beautiful face in our universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/the-sea-is-the-most-beautiful-face-in-our-universe/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [There is nothing better than work. Work is also play; children know that. Children play earnestly as if it were work. But people grow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/there-is-nothing-better-than-work-work-is-also-play-children-know/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“What will you do with your one precious, wild life?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/what-will-you-do-with-your-one-precious-wild-life/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/poetry-is-a-life-cherishing-force-for-poems-are-not-words-after-all/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“I stood like Adam in his lonely garden On that first morning, shaken out of sleep, Rubbing his eyes, listening, parting the leaves, Like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/i-stood-like-adam-in-his-lonely-garden-on-that-first-morning-shaken/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [We all have a hungry heart, and one of the things we hunger for is happiness. So as much as I possibly could, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/we-all-have-a-hungry-heart-and-one-of-the-things-we-hunger-for-is/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) [Explore all 470 Mary Oliver quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) ## More How to love quotes > [You are terrifying, and strange, and beautiful. Something not everyone knows how to love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warsan-shire/you-are-terrifying-and-strange-and-beautiful-something-not-everyone/) [Warsan Shire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warsan-shire/) > [That which is truly human no generation learns from the one before it. No generation learns from another how to love. No generation has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soren-kierkegaard/that-which-is-truly-human-no-generation-learns-from-the-one-before-it/) [Soren Kierkegaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soren-kierkegaard/) > [Brother Kendrick Lamar: he's not a rapper, he's a writer, he's an author. And if you read between the lines, we'll learn how to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kendrick-lamar/brother-kendrick-lamar-he-s-not-a-rapper-he-s-a-writer-he-s-an-author/) [Kendrick Lamar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kendrick-lamar/) > [How sad, a heart that does not know how to love, that does not know what it is to be drunk with love. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/omar-khayy-m/how-sad-a-heart-that-does-not-know-how-to-love-that-does-not-know/) [Omar Khayyam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/omar-khayy-m/) > [And you tried to change, didnt you? Closed your mouth more. Tried to be softer, prettier, less volatile, less awake¦ You cant make homes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warsan-shire/and-you-tried-to-change-didnt-you-closed-your-mouth-more-tried-to-be/) [Warsan Shire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warsan-shire/) > [Involve yourself every day. Work hard and figure out how to love acting all day, every day. It's getting into a made-up situation and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-goldblum/involve-yourself-every-day-work-hard-and-figure-out-how-to-love/) [Jeff Goldblum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-goldblum/) > [How are you going to protect me?? do you even know what it means to protect someone?? you think giving a crying person icecream…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ji-eun-song/how-are-you-going-to-protect-me-do-you-even-know-what-it-means-to/) Ji-Eun Song > [I'm tired of living unable to love anyone. I don't have a single friend - not one. And, worst of all, I can't even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/i-m-tired-of-living-unable-to-love-anyone-i-don-t-have-a-single/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“Many people who experienced love their whole lives, in childhood and all throughout, do not know the worth of being loved as adults. People…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-joybell-c/many-people-who-experienced-love-their-whole-lives-in-childhood-and/) [C. JoyBell C](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-joybell-c/) > [Oh honey, there's nothing new on this earth when it comes to what men and women do in the dark. First love is when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/federico-garc-a-lorca/oh-honey-there-s-nothing-new-on-this-earth-when-it-comes-to-what-men/) [Federico Garcia Lorca](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/federico-garc-a-lorca/) > [Learning how to love your neighbor requires a willingness to draw on the strength of Jesus Christ as you die to self and live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-c-broger/learning-how-to-love-your-neighbor-requires-a-willingness-to-draw-on/) [John C. Broger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-c-broger/) > [I hate her." Merlin laughed, tossing the stick down. "Not so. You have forgotten how to love. That's a different sorrow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-fisher/i-hate-her-merlin-laughed-tossing-the-stick-down-not-so-you-have/) [Catherine Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-fisher/) > [He stared past her to the place at the other end of the dining table where Regina would sit as his wife. If she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sabrina-jeffries/he-stared-past-her-to-the-place-at-the-other-end-of-the-dining-table/) [Sabrina Jeffries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sabrina-jeffries/) > [No one knows how to love anybody's trouble.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-stanford/no-one-knows-how-to-love-anybody-s-trouble/) [Frank Stanford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-stanford/) > [Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brother-lawrence/many-things-are-possible-for-the-person-who-has-hope-even-more-is/) [Brother Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brother-lawrence/) [Browse all 142 How to love quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/how-to-love/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There is only one question: / how to love this world.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mary Oliver" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/there-is-only-one-question-how-to-love-this-world/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "How to love" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/there-is-only-one-question-how-to-love-this-world/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c31/mary-oliver-570_how-to-love_there-is-only-one-question-how-to-love-t_3008022.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c31/mary-oliver-570_how-to-love_there-is-only-one-question-how-to-love-t_3008022.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c31/mary-oliver-570_how-to-love_there-is-only-one-question-how-to-love-t_3008022.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There is only one question: / how to love this world.” — Mary Oliver", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mary Oliver", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "There is only one question: /...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/there-is-only-one-question-how-to-love-this-world/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/there-is-only-one-question-how-to-love-this-world/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```