--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Love, the one supreme, unceasing source…" description: "\"Love, the one supreme, unceasing source of human felicity, the one sole joy which lifts the whole mortal existence into the empyrean, was by it [Christ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc0/ouida-3651_action_love-the-one-supreme-unceasing-source-of_3196699.png" --- # Love, the one supreme, unceasing source of human felicity… ![“Love, the one supreme, unceasing source of human felicity, the one sole joy which lifts the whole mortal existence into the empyrean, was by it [Christianity] degraded into the mere mechanical action of reproduction.” quote by Ouida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc0/ouida-3651_action_love-the-one-supreme-unceasing-source-of_3196699.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc0/ouida-3651_action_love-the-one-supreme-unceasing-source-of_3196699.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc0/ouida-3651_action_love-the-one-supreme-unceasing-source-of_3196699.png) > “Love, the one supreme, unceasing source of human felicity, the one sole joy which lifts the whole mortal existence into the empyrean, was by it \[Christianity\] degraded into the mere mechanical action of reproduction.” [Ouida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ouida/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Christianity reduces love, the ultimate source of joy, to mere reproductive function. **In simple terms:** Religion trivializes love to biology. Key Takeaway Seek deeper spiritual meaning beyond physicality. Themes theology philosophy human experience Mood critical contemplative Type philosophical theological When to use this quote - personal reflection - academic discourse - artistic expression - interfaith dialogue Key Concepts reductionism spiritual critique existentialism Questions to Reflect On - Does faith necessarily diminish love? - How can love be both spiritual and physical? A Different Perspective The view may ignore the positive aspects of religious community and moral guidance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Action](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/action/) [Christianity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christianity/) [Christianity Degraded](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christianity-degraded-4640535/) [Empyrean Christianity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/empyrean-christianity-5918061/) [Existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) [Felicity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/felicity/) [Human Felicity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-felicity-1333701/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Joy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/joy/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Lifts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lifts/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Mere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mere/) [Mortal Existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mortal-existence-1644113/) [Mortals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mortals/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Reproduction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reproduction/) [Sole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sole/) [Source](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/source/) [Supreme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/supreme/) [Supreme Unceasing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/supreme-unceasing-5918060/) [Whole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whole/) ## Related quotes > [Human felicity is produced not as much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/human-felicity-is-produced-not-as-much-by-great-pieces-of-good/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [If sensuality were happiness, beasts were happier than men; but human felicity is lodged in the soul, not in the flesh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-sensuality-were-happiness-beasts-were-happier-than-men-but-human/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [To strive with difficulties, and to conquer them, is the highest human felicity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/to-strive-with-difficulties-and-to-conquer-them-is-the-highest-human/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Never lose sight of the fact that all human felicity lies in man's imagination, and that he cannot think to attain it unless he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/never-lose-sight-of-the-fact-that-all-human-felicity-lies-in-man-s/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [A tavern chair is the throne of human felicity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/a-tavern-chair-is-the-throne-of-human-felicity/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [“One of the early critics of Christianity was Celsus (fl. 180), the witty philosopher who observed that Christianity was a "degraded kind of Platonism,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-m-murdock/one-of-the-early-critics-of-christianity-was-celsus-fl-180-the-witty/) [D.M. 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Illumined by the imagination, our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-de-la-mare/without-imagination-of-the-one-kind-or-of-the-other-mortal-existence/) [Walter de La Mare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-de-la-mare/) > [“Human felicity is produc'd not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/human-felicity-is-produc-d-not-so-much-by-great-pieces-of-good/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [Possession without obligation to the object possessed approaches felicity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-meredith/possession-without-obligation-to-the-object-possessed-approaches/) [George Meredith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-meredith/) > [... professing myself moreover convinced that the general's unjust interference, so far from being really injurious to their felicity, was perhaps rather conducive to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/professing-myself-moreover-convinced-that-the-general-s-unjust/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [I never root for a failure. I learned that when we were on 'Felicity.' There was a show that failed on the lot, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-grunberg/i-never-root-for-a-failure-i-learned-that-when-we-were-on-felicity/) [Greg Grunberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-grunberg/) > [Pound St. Paul's Church into atoms, and consider any single atom; it is to be sure, good for nothing; but put all these atoms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/pound-st-paul-s-church-into-atoms-and-consider-any-single-atom-it-is/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) ## More by Ouida > [Sport inevitably creates deadness of feeling. 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Gold is the war-scythe on its chariot, which mows down the millions of its foes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ouida/genius-scorns-the-power-of-gold-it-is-wrong-gold-is-the-war-scythe-on/) [Ouida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ouida/) > [There is a self-evident axiom, that she who is born a beauty is half married.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ouida/there-is-a-self-evident-axiom-that-she-who-is-born-a-beauty-is-half/) [Ouida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ouida/) > [No great talker ever did any great thing yet, in this world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ouida/no-great-talker-ever-did-any-great-thing-yet-in-this-world/) [Ouida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ouida/) > [The philosopher stands at his desk in the lecture hall, and demonstrates away the soul of man, and with exact thought measures out his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ouida/the-philosopher-stands-at-his-desk-in-the-lecture-hall-and/) [Ouida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ouida/) > [The song that we hear with our ears is only the song that is sung in our hearts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ouida/the-song-that-we-hear-with-our-ears-is-only-the-song-that-is-sung-in/) [Ouida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ouida/) > [It is a kind of blindness--poverty. 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