Sex can be defined fairly adequately in physiological terms as consisting of the building up of bodily tensions and their release.... Eros, in contrast, is the experiencing of the personal intentions and meaning of the act. Whereas sex is a rhythm of stimulus and response, eros is a state of being. The pleasure of sex is described by Freud and others as the reduction of tension; in eros, on the contrary, we wish not to be released from the excitement but rather to hang on to it, to bask in it, and even to increase it. The end toward which sex points is gratification and relaxation, whereas eros is a desiring, longing, a forever reaching out, seeking to expand.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The "Green-Eyed Monster" causes much woe, but the absence of this ugly serpent argues the presence of a corpse whose name is Eros.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
One rational voice is dumb: over a grave The household of Impulse mourns one dearly loved.... Sad is Eros, builder of cities, And weeping anarchic Aphrodite.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
War bent and kissed the forehead, that bright brow,... ignored the chin and the sweet mouth, for that and the low laugh were his, Eros ingratiate.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Test of the poet is knowledge of love, For Eros is older than Saturn or Jove;... Never was poet, of late or of yore, Who was not tremulous with love-lore.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »