--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We don't love qualities, we love persons…" description: "\"We don't love qualities, we love persons; sometimes by reason of their defects as well as of their qualities.\" — Thomas Mann" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21d/thomas-mann-1103_defects_we-don-t-love-qualities-we-love-persons_2795401.jpg" --- # We don't love qualities, we love persons; sometimes by… ![“We don't love qualities, we love persons; sometimes by reason of their defects as well as of their qualities.” quote by Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21d/thomas-mann-1103_defects_we-don-t-love-qualities-we-love-persons_2795401.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21d/thomas-mann-1103_defects_we-don-t-love-qualities-we-love-persons_2795401.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21d/thomas-mann-1103_defects_we-don-t-love-qualities-we-love-persons_2795401.jpg) > “We don't love qualities, we love persons; sometimes by reason of their defects as well as of their qualities.” [Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People love individuals for both their virtues and flaws, not just their positive traits. **In simple terms:** We love people, not just qualities. Key Takeaway Accept whole persons. Themes love humanity imperfection relationships morality Mood thoughtful warm Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - friendships - romantic relationships - family dynamics Key Concepts holism empathy acceptance Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance admiration and criticism? - What flaws do you appreciate in others? A Different Perspective Idealizing can be unrealistic. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Defects](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defects/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Qualities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/qualities/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) ## Related quotes > [We don't love qualities; we love a person; sometimes by reason of their defects as well as their qualities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-maritain/we-don-t-love-qualities-we-love-a-person-sometimes-by-reason-of-their/) [Jacques Maritain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-maritain/) > [Happy the man when he has not the defects of his qualities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-d-israeli/happy-the-man-when-he-has-not-the-defects-of-his-qualities/) [Isaac D'Israeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-d-israeli/) > [We all have the defects of our qualities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josephine-dodge-daskam-bacon/we-all-have-the-defects-of-our-qualities/) Josephine Dodge Daskam Bacon > [Love has its own qualities and one of the qualities is that love understands. Its understanding is not in words, not in thought, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nirmala-srivastava/love-has-its-own-qualities-and-one-of-the-qualities-is-that-love/) [Nirmala Srivastava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nirmala-srivastava/) > [You can look for good qualities in the one you love but you can't keep looking for love in a person who has good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-can-look-for-good-qualities-in-the-one-you-love-but-you-can-t/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The real lover will love you with all your qualities and weaknesses , he won't be embarrassed for your weaknesses , neither will he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/senoraroy/the-real-lover-will-love-you-with-all-your-qualities-and-weaknesses/) Senoraroy > [One of Love's qualities--namely, Forgiveness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/one-of-love-s-qualities-namely-forgiveness/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [I always fall in love with qualities of people I work with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-dern/i-always-fall-in-love-with-qualities-of-people-i-work-with/) [Laura Dern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-dern/) > [Love can make us or break us. Love can make us happy or sad very quickly. You know you're in love when that persons…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/love-can-make-us-or-break-us-love-can-make-us-happy-or-sad-very/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Ultimately, love is when another persons happiness is equally as important as your own. Its not only about romance, candle-lit diners and walking hand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melchor-lim/ultimately-love-is-when-another-persons-happiness-is-equally-as/) [Melchor Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melchor-lim/) > [The essence of being human is that, in the brief moment we exist on this spinning planet, we can love some persons and some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rollo-may/the-essence-of-being-human-is-that-in-the-brief-moment-we-exist-on/) [Rollo May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rollo-may/) > [Love those persons who really cares u…But don't be so mad…\*\*\*\*\*\*0\*\*\*\*\*\*](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zara/love-those-persons-who-really-cares-u-but-don-t-be-so-mad-0/) Zara > [You must know that I am, of all men who were ever born, the most inclined to love persons. Whenever I behold someone who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelangelo/you-must-know-that-i-am-of-all-men-who-were-ever-born-the-most/) [Michelangelo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelangelo/) > [I detest the idea that love between two persons can lead to salvation. All my life I have fought against this oppressive type of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-werner-fassbinder/i-detest-the-idea-that-love-between-two-persons-can-lead-to-salvation/) [Rainer Werner Fassbinder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-werner-fassbinder/) > [Love should be for two persons. The time you add a third party it becomes lust.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dopeniic/love-should-be-for-two-persons-the-time-you-add-a-third-party-it/) Dopeniic ## More by Thomas Mann > [Solitude produces originality, bold and astonishing beauty, poetry. But solitude also produces perverseness, the disproportianate, the absurd and the forbidden.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/solitude-produces-originality-bold-and-astonishing-beauty-poetry-but/) [Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/) > [“Solitude favors the original, the daringly and otherworldly beautiful, the poem. But it also favors the wrongful, the extreme, the absurd, and the forbidden.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/solitude-favors-the-original-the-daringly-and-otherworldly-beautiful/) [Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/) > [“But what would be our readers’ reaction if we simply refused to get to the bottom of that question?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/but-what-would-be-our-readers-reaction-if-we-simply-refused-to-get-to/) [Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/) > [What good would politics be, if it didn’t give everyone the opportunity to make moral compromises.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/what-good-would-politics-be-if-it-didn-t-give-everyone-the/) [Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/) > [“O, čarobna organsko lepoto, koja se ne sastojiš ni iz uljane boje ni iz kamena, već iz materije žive i raspadljive, pune grozničave tajne…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/o-arobna-organsko-lepoto-koja-se-ne-sastoji-ni-iz-uljane-boje-ni-iz/) [Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/) > [Opinions cannot survive if one has no chance to fight for them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/opinions-cannot-survive-if-one-has-no-chance-to-fight-for-them/) [Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/) > [“I hope that you have nothing against malice, my good engineer. 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Yes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/the-days-began-to-fly-now-and-yet-each-one-of-them-was-stretched-by/) [Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/) > [“The average man thinks that a little falseness goes with beauty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/the-average-man-thinks-that-a-little-falseness-goes-with-beauty/) [Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/) > [“A stimulus is a stimulus. The body doesn't give a damn about the meaning of the stimulus. 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Our consciousness is feeble; only in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/one-always-needs-to-be-reminded-one-is-by-no-means-always-in/) [Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/) > [Everything is politics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/everything-is-politics/) [Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/) > [Is not life in itself a thing of goodness, irrespective of whether the course it takes for us can be called a 'happy' one?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/is-not-life-in-itself-a-thing-of-goodness-irrespective-of-whether-the/) [Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/) [Explore all 239 Thomas Mann quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/) ## More Defects quotes > [It is the common defect of modern art study. Too many students do not know why they draw.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-henri/it-is-the-common-defect-of-modern-art-study-too-many-students-do-not/) [Robert Henri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-henri/) > [Selfishness is one of the principal fruits of the corruption of human nature; and it is obvious that selfishness disposes us to over-rate our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-wilberforce/selfishness-is-one-of-the-principal-fruits-of-the-corruption-of-human/) [William Wilberforce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-wilberforce/) > [Jesus never met a disease he could not cure, a birth defect he could not reverse, a demon he could not exorcise. But he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-yancey/jesus-never-met-a-disease-he-could-not-cure-a-birth-defect-he-could/) [Philip Yancey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-yancey/) > [With all of its defects, the global market makes war less likely, even between the USA and China.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/with-all-of-its-defects-the-global-market-makes-war-less-likely-even/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [There are few defects in our nature so glaring as not to be veiled from observation by politeness and good-breeding.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanis-aw-i-leszczy-ski/there-are-few-defects-in-our-nature-so-glaring-as-not-to-be-veiled/) [Stanisław I Leszczyński](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanis-aw-i-leszczy-ski/) > [I don't want you to praise me...Some praise me because I am a colored girl, and I don't want that kind of praise. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmonia-lewis/i-don-t-want-you-to-praise-me-some-praise-me-because-i-am-a-colored/) [Edmonia Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmonia-lewis/) > [The sense of tragedy - according to Aristotle - comes, ironically enough, not from the protagonist's weak points but from his good qualities. Do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/the-sense-of-tragedy-according-to-aristotle-comes-ironically-enough/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [Political correctness is a major defect of the western ethos. Some Western countries have even passed blasphemy laws that would put you in legal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-sina/political-correctness-is-a-major-defect-of-the-western-ethos-some/) [Ali Sina](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-sina/) > [Absence of defects does not necessarily build business... Something more is required.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-edwards-deming/absence-of-defects-does-not-necessarily-build-business-something-more/) [W. Edwards Deming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-edwards-deming/) > [Every reader should remember the diffidence of Socrates, and repair by his candour the injuries of time: he should impute the seeming defects of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/every-reader-should-remember-the-diffidence-of-socrates-and-repair-by/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [The essence of man is his freedom. Sin is committed in that freedom. Sin can therefore not be attributed to a defect in his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/the-essence-of-man-is-his-freedom-sin-is-committed-in-that-freedom/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [The second commandment that Jesus referred to was not to love others instead of ourselves, but to love them as ourselves. Before we can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-warner/the-second-commandment-that-jesus-referred-to-was-not-to-love-others/) Jim Warner > [The weakest man is the one who is able to correct his moral defects, but doesn't take action.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-ibn-abi-talib/the-weakest-man-is-the-one-who-is-able-to-correct-his-moral-defects/) [Ali ibn Abi Talib](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-ibn-abi-talib/) > [Whoever recounts to you the faults of your neighbour will doubtless expose your defects to others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/whoever-recounts-to-you-the-faults-of-your-neighbour-will-doubtless/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Like all of us sinners, General Betrishchev was endowed with many virtues and many defects. Both the one and the other were scattered through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikolai-gogol/like-all-of-us-sinners-general-betrishchev-was-endowed-with-many/) [Nikolai Gogol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikolai-gogol/) [Browse all 559 Defects quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defects/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We don't love qualities, we love persons; sometimes by reason of their defects as well as of their qualities.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Mann" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/we-don-t-love-qualities-we-love-persons-sometimes-by-reason-of-their/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Defects" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/we-don-t-love-qualities-we-love-persons-sometimes-by-reason-of-their/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21d/thomas-mann-1103_defects_we-don-t-love-qualities-we-love-persons_2795401.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21d/thomas-mann-1103_defects_we-don-t-love-qualities-we-love-persons_2795401.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21d/thomas-mann-1103_defects_we-don-t-love-qualities-we-love-persons_2795401.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We don't love qualities, we love persons; sometimes by reason of their defects as well as of their qualities.” — Thomas Mann", "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": "Thomas Mann", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We don't love qualities, we love...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/we-don-t-love-qualities-we-love-persons-sometimes-by-reason-of-their/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/we-don-t-love-qualities-we-love-persons-sometimes-by-reason-of-their/#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 } } ] } ```