--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Music is love in search of a word." description: "\"Music is love in search of a word.\" — Sidney Lanier" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f1/sidney-lanier-20472_language_music-is-love-in-search-of-a-word-264986_2649868.jpg" --- # Music is love in search of a word. ![“Music is love in search of a word.” quote by Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f1/sidney-lanier-20472_language_music-is-love-in-search-of-a-word-264986_2649868.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f1/sidney-lanier-20472_language_music-is-love-in-search-of-a-word-264986_2649868.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f1/sidney-lanier-20472_language_music-is-love-in-search-of-a-word-264986_2649868.jpg) > “Music is love in search of a word.” [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Music seeks words to express love, searching for language that captures emotion. **In simple terms:** Music looks for words to love. Key Takeaway Find language for deep feeling. Themes art music expression Mood poetic reflective Type artistic emotional When to use this quote - songwriting - poetry - therapy sessions Key Concepts Aesthetic search emotional articulation Questions to Reflect On - How does music convey what words cannot? - What emotions are hardest to name? A Different Perspective Words may never fully capture music. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Music Is Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music-is-love/) [Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/song/) ## Related quotes > [Music is love in search of a voice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/music-is-love-in-search-of-a-voice/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Music is love searching for a word.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/music-is-love-searching-for-a-word/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) > [The search for the word gets no easier but nobody else is going to write your novel for you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/the-search-for-the-word-gets-no-easier-but-nobody-else-is-going-to/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [MUSIC is LOVE](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yvonne-prinz/music-is-love/) [Yvonne Prinz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yvonne-prinz/) > [You don't love a woman because she is beautiful, but she is beautiful because you love her. Never underestimate the power of love. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-byron/you-don-t-love-a-woman-because-she-is-beautiful-but-she-is-beautiful/) [Lord Byron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-byron/) > [“Music is about love. Music is love. Music is the way you talk to the person you like.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tegan-quin/music-is-about-love-music-is-love-music-is-the-way-you-talk-to-the/) [Tegan Quin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tegan-quin/) > [My gift and my curse is that I really want to be loved. What drives me to make music is love - whether it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-thicke/my-gift-and-my-curse-is-that-i-really-want-to-be-loved-what-drives-me/) [Robin Thicke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-thicke/) > [What love is to man, music is to the arts and to mankind. Music is love itself - it is the purest, most ethereal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-maria-von-weber/what-love-is-to-man-music-is-to-the-arts-and-to-mankind-music-is-love/) [Carl Maria von Weber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-maria-von-weber/) > [Music is Love...Music is a universal language...I'm in Love with music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/music-is-love-music-is-a-universal-language-i-m-in-love-with-music/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Music is love, love is music, music is my life and I love my life. Thank you and goodnight.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aj-mclean/music-is-love-love-is-music-music-is-my-life-and-i-love-my-life-thank/) AJ McLean > [And yet shall Love himself be heard,Though long deferred, though long deferred:O'er the modern waste a dove hath whirred:Music is Love in search of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/and-yet-shall-love-himself-be-heard-though-long-deferred-though-long/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) > [Love. The world is so full of love. Love fills the sky. Love is spread all over the ground. Music is love in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/love-the-world-is-so-full-of-love-love-fills-the-sky-love-is-spread/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Music is love, love is music, music is life, and I love my life. Thank you and good night.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-j-mclean/music-is-love-love-is-music-music-is-life-and-i-love-my-life-thank/) [A. J. McLean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-j-mclean/) > [“If you are not loved as a child by the ones who should love you, you will search your entire life for that love.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-joyce/if-you-are-not-loved-as-a-child-by-the-ones-who-should-love-you-you/) Sandra Joyce > [“If love is what we search for… Then why at the end of our search we only find pain?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-marcelo-cabanas/if-love-is-what-we-search-for-then-why-at-the-end-of-our-search-we/) David Marcelo-Cabanas ## More by Sidney Lanier > [Out of the hills of Habersham, Down the valleys of Hall, I hurry amain to reach the plain; Run the rapid and leap the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/out-of-the-hills-of-habersham-down-the-valleys-of-hall-i-hurry-amain/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) > [Look out, Death: I am coming.-Art thou not glad? what talks we'll have.-What memories of old battles.-Come, bring the bowl, Death; I am thirsty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/look-out-death-i-am-coming-art-thou-not-glad-what-talks-we-ll-have/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) > [I will fly in the greatness of God as the marsh-hen flies, In the freedom that fills all the space 'twixt the marsh and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/i-will-fly-in-the-greatness-of-god-as-the-marsh-hen-flies-in-the/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) > [Music means harmony, harmony means love. Love means God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/music-means-harmony-harmony-means-love-love-means-god/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) > [But Thee, but Thee, O sovereign Seer of time, But Thee, O poets' Poet, Wisdom's Tongue, But Thee, O man's best Man, O love's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/but-thee-but-thee-o-sovereign-seer-of-time-but-thee-o-poets-poet/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) > [If you want to be found stand where the seeker seeks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/if-you-want-to-be-found-stand-where-the-seeker-seeks/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) > [Well: Love and Pain Be kinfolks twain; Yet would, Oh would I could Love again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/well-love-and-pain-be-kinfolks-twain-yet-would-oh-would-i-could-love/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) > [If a man made himself an expert in any particular branch of human activity, there would result the strong tendency that a peculiar aptitude…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/if-a-man-made-himself-an-expert-in-any-particular-branch-of-human/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) > [O Trade, O Trade! Would thou wert dead!The time needs heart - 'tis tired of head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/o-trade-o-trade-would-thou-wert-dead-the-time-needs-heart-tis-tired/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) > [But I cannot bring myself to believe that I was intended for a musician, because it seems so small a business in comparison with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/but-i-cannot-bring-myself-to-believe-that-i-was-intended-for-a/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) > [The sun is a-wait at the ponderous gate of the West.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/the-sun-is-a-wait-at-the-ponderous-gate-of-the-west/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) > [Leap through the Mystery of death as the circus-rider leaps through the papered hoop ... find Life ambling along beneath us on the Other Side.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/leap-through-the-mystery-of-death-as-the-circus-rider-leaps-through/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) > [As the woodpecker taps in a spiral quest From the root to the top of the tree, Then flies to another tree, So have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/as-the-woodpecker-taps-in-a-spiral-quest-from-the-root-to-the-top-of/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) > [Into the woods, my Master went, Clean forspent, forspent, Into the woods my Master came, Forspent with love and shame. But the olives they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/into-the-woods-my-master-went-clean-forspent-forspent-into-the-woods/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) > [When I hear music, it seems to me that all the sins of my life pass slowly by me with veiled faces, lay their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/when-i-hear-music-it-seems-to-me-that-all-the-sins-of-my-life-pass/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) [Explore all 30 Sidney Lanier quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) ## More Language quotes > [I put myself in the student's place and remember the frustrations, doubts, determination, and desires I felt when I was going through the initial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-martinez/i-put-myself-in-the-student-s-place-and-remember-the-frustrations/) Ted Martinez > [Usually male directors have to use foul language to get the job done. But I never came down to that level as being a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/divya-khosla-kumar/usually-male-directors-have-to-use-foul-language-to-get-the-job-done/) [Divya Khosla Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/divya-khosla-kumar/) > [The problem posed by indirect speech acts is the problem of how it is possible for the speaker to say one thing and mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-searle/the-problem-posed-by-indirect-speech-acts-is-the-problem-of-how-it-is/) [John Searle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-searle/) > [A man walks down the street. It's a street in a strange world. Maybe it's the third world. Maybe it's his first time around.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-simon/a-man-walks-down-the-street-it-s-a-street-in-a-strange-world-maybe-it/) [Paul Simon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-simon/) > [“I only have two words to say More or Less”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timbur/i-only-have-two-words-to-say-more-or-less/) TimBur > [It's like saying French shouldn't be taught because you don't understand it because it's new. Shakespeare is just like learning a new, exciting language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-barnett/it-s-like-saying-french-shouldn-t-be-taught-because-you-don-t/) [Samuel Barnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-barnett/) > [I am attracted to looking at the different things language can mean even in one sometimes quite ordinary utterance. Writing is partly about listening…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rae-armantrout/i-am-attracted-to-looking-at-the-different-things-language-can-mean/) [Rae Armantrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-armantrout/) > [What is music? Music is language. A human being wants to express ideas in this language, but not ideas that can be translated into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-webern/what-is-music-music-is-language-a-human-being-wants-to-express-ideas/) [Anton Webern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-webern/) > [You're beautiful, cute, pretty, gorgeous, and fuck.. I ran out of words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raghib-clitso/you-re-beautiful-cute-pretty-gorgeous-and-fuck-i-ran-out-of-words/) [Raghib Clitso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raghib-clitso/) > [The world has a soul and whoever understands that soul can also understand the language of many things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/the-world-has-a-soul-and-whoever-understands-that-soul-can-also/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [“The words for what I want to say right now don't exist. Everything sounds…so cliché.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelly-crane/the-words-for-what-i-want-to-say-right-now-don-t-exist-everything/) [Shelly Crane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelly-crane/) > [A man cannot speak but he judges himself. With his will or against his will he draws his portrait to the eye of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/a-man-cannot-speak-but-he-judges-himself-with-his-will-or-against-his/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Words can kill you trust towards someone, mind you language people, every reaction had its consequence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/words-can-kill-you-trust-towards-someone-mind-you-language-people/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Finxerunt animi, raro et perpauca loquentis. (To action little, less to words inclinded.)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/finxerunt-animi-raro-et-perpauca-loquentis-to-action-little-less-to/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [For comedy action, I must know the language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sammo-hung/for-comedy-action-i-must-know-the-language/) [Sammo Hung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sammo-hung/) [Browse all 21,951 Language quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Music is love in search of a word.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sidney Lanier" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/music-is-love-in-search-of-a-word/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Language" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/music-is-love-in-search-of-a-word/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f1/sidney-lanier-20472_language_music-is-love-in-search-of-a-word-264986_2649868.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f1/sidney-lanier-20472_language_music-is-love-in-search-of-a-word-264986_2649868.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f1/sidney-lanier-20472_language_music-is-love-in-search-of-a-word-264986_2649868.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Music is love in search of a word.” — Sidney Lanier", "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": "Sidney Lanier", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Music is love in search of...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/music-is-love-in-search-of-a-word/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/music-is-love-in-search-of-a-word/#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 } } ] } ```