--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I got interested in the idea that love is…" description: "\"“I got interested in the idea that love is often used as a kind of blanket explanation for things. I mean, battered wives, for instance: \"Why did you g..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbd/morag-joss-51620_big-idea_i-got-interested-in-the-idea-that-love-i_1089872.jpg" --- # I got interested in the idea that love is often used as a… ![“I got interested in the idea that love is often used as a kind of blanket explanation for things. I mean, battered wives, for instance: "Why did you go back to him?" "Oh, I loved him." "Why did you embezzle fifteen million pounds and run away to the other side of the world?" "Oh, well, because I…” quote by Morag Joss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbd/morag-joss-51620_big-idea_i-got-interested-in-the-idea-that-love-i_1089872.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbd/morag-joss-51620_big-idea_i-got-interested-in-the-idea-that-love-i_1089872.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbd/morag-joss-51620_big-idea_i-got-interested-in-the-idea-that-love-i_1089872.jpg) > ““I got interested in the idea that love is often used as a kind of blanket explanation for things. I mean, battered wives, for instance: "Why did you go back to him?" "Oh, I loved him." "Why did you embezzle fifteen million pounds and run away to the other side of the world?" "Oh, well, because I was in love." All that and then you don't ask anything else. I thought if I just say, these people needed love and they found it, then it kind of explained it away. I wanted to look at their behaviour and how love can inspire the best and the very worst in human behaviour but love itself is not behaviour. So I avoided the word 'love' until the very end and it's the last word in the novel. I wanted to explore what people will do when they're in such terrible need of love. If there was a big idea then that was it. Then, of course, I hope that if it's a story worth reading it's the characters themselves who make you want to read it, not the big idea. I don't think a big idea drives a novel usually. Something else has to engage you on a much more kind of personal level. ”” [Morag Joss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morag-joss/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author examines how love is used as an excuse for harmful behavior, revealing its limits as a motive. **In simple terms:** Love is often blamed for actions, but it isn’t a behavior itself. Key Takeaway Question the “love” justification in extreme cases. Themes psychology human behavior motivation relationships Mood reflective critical Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - relationship counseling - legal defense - character study - literary analysis Key Concepts love as excuse psychological need ethical responsibility Questions to Reflect On - What drives people beyond love? - When does love become a harmful rationalization? A Different Perspective Love may mask deeper issues like power or desperation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Behaviour Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/behaviour-love-2812073/) [Big idea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/big-idea/) [Habits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habits/) [Human behaviour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-behaviour/) [Idea Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/idea-love/) [Last Word](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/last-word/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Need love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/need-love/) [Needed love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/needed-love/) [Oh well](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oh-well/) [Word Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/word-love/) ## Related quotes > [“The idea is not love. The idea, the word is not love. But only when you have seen the whole movement of desire, attachment,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jiddu-krishnamurti/the-idea-is-not-love-the-idea-the-word-is-not-love-but-only-when-you/) [Jiddu Krishnamurti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jiddu-krishnamurti/) > [Don't let anyone look down on you for being young. 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I took them as they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-theroux/i-loved-my-father-but-i-was-not-like-him-i-never-needed-to-believe/) [Marcel Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-theroux/) > [You helped me a lot when I needed you beside of me I love u from the bottom of my heart mommy ad I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eulalia-acevedomercado/you-helped-me-a-lot-when-i-needed-you-beside-of-me-i-love-u-from-the/) [Eulalia Acevedomercado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eulalia-acevedomercado/) > [With u I don't need no body else, I will not cheated on u for someone else, u are all I ever needed I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raheem-nicholas/with-u-i-don-t-need-no-body-else-i-will-not-cheated-on-u-for-someone/) [Raheem Nicholas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raheem-nicholas/) > [Come at once. Help me. Save me. I need you as I have never needed you before. I love you, I love you, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/come-at-once-help-me-save-me-i-need-you-as-i-have-never-needed-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Morag Joss > ['The Night Following' is very interior; the events are, to a large degree, mental events.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morag-joss/the-night-following-is-very-interior-the-events-are-to-a-large-degree/) [Morag Joss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morag-joss/) > [My father was a psychiatrist, the medical director of a mental hospital in Scotland, and when I was a student, I took vacation jobs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morag-joss/my-father-was-a-psychiatrist-the-medical-director-of-a-mental/) [Morag Joss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morag-joss/) > [“So much is invisible.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morag-joss/so-much-is-invisible/) [Morag Joss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morag-joss/) > [“I wear a taint of rationing, that's all. 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Part Two is all about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clay-clark/the-path-to-success-involves-two-parts-part-one-is-all-about/) [Clay Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clay-clark/) > [You never know when some small thing will lead to a big idea. Travel is very inspirational - but it's in the ordinary that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adriana-trigiani/you-never-know-when-some-small-thing-will-lead-to-a-big-idea-travel/) [Adriana Trigiani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adriana-trigiani/) > [The job of the leader is to get the big ideas right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-petraeus/the-job-of-the-leader-is-to-get-the-big-ideas-right/) [David Petraeus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-petraeus/) > [“There is a current perception is that science has overtaken Philosophy and in effect rendered Philosophy irrelevant. Science, when sufficiently abstracted, approaches Philosophy in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-golway/there-is-a-current-perception-is-that-science-has-overtaken/) [Tom Golway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-golway/) > [I always tell people that revelling in big ideas for me is kind of like an antidote to existential angst.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-silva/i-always-tell-people-that-revelling-in-big-ideas-for-me-is-kind-of/) [Jason Silva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-silva/) [Browse all 254 Big idea quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/big-idea/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I got interested in the idea that love is often used as a kind of blanket explanation for things. 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