Love and friendship are among the most substantial and most beautiful feelings in existence. These two feelings are quite similar yet different in their own ways.
There has always been a lot of confusion between love and friendship because it is said that “where there is friendship, there is love”.
Key Takeaways
- Love is an intense emotion characterized by romantic feelings, physical attraction, and a deep emotional connection with another person.
- Friendship is a close relationship between two or more people who share common interests, values, and experiences and provide emotional support, companionship, and loyalty.
- While love involves a romantic and sexual relationship, friendship is a platonic and non-sexual relationship based on mutual respect, trust, and understanding.
Love vs Friendship
The difference between love and friendship is that friendship is a relationship between two or more people, whereas love refers to a romantic relationship between just two people.
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Love is a feeling of personal attraction for another person. On the other hand, friendship does not involve any such kind of interest. It usually is a state of being friends with someone.
Love is a type of feeling. There would probably be no clear definition of love; it is meant to felt. It involved a profound sense of attachment as well as attraction.
It is the basis of interpersonal relationships between friends, family and partners. However, it can be a very confusing feeling sometimes.
Friendship, on the other hand, describes the state of being friends with someone. It is the most loyal and comforting feeling.
There is a genuine commitment between people in a friendship. It always has a sense of mutual trust, concern, love etc.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Love | Friendship |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Love is a time of feeling, it is a romantic relationship between people. | Friendship is the state of being friends with someone. |
| Type of feeling | Romantic | Non- romantic |
| Relationship | For love a relationship between two people is not necessary. | For love a relationship between two people is necessary. |
| No. of people | Two people. | More than two people. |
| Famous quotes | “Where there is love, there is life” – Mahatma Gandhi. | “A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” – Walter Winchel |
What is Love?
Love is a feeling. There would probably be no clear definition of love. Since it is a feeling, it is meant to be felt. Love is so hard to define because there are various forms of it.
There is love between parents and children, between siblings, friends, spouse, between a girlfriend and a boyfriend and so on.
Love is the basis of interpersonal relationships between friends, family and partners. The feeling of love and the maintenance of this feeling does require natural trust, compassion, respect and also a sense of protection and acknowledgement towards each other.
Love is like an attachment in case of friends and family, and it is like personal attraction in case of a romantic relationship with a partner.
It can be a quite confusing feeling since friends can be lovers and overs can be friends too.
No matter how much we try to define it or put science in it, ultimately it is a beautiful feeling that is meant to be felt as once Nicholas sparks said: ” love is like a wind, u cant see it, but u can feel it”.
What is Friendship?
Friendship simply is a relationship having a variety of feelings between two or more friends.
Everybody has their own meaning and perception of friendship.
Some people make another person their best friend just moments after meeting them. At the same time, some people take a lot of time even to consider another person as a friend.
In a friendship, there is a natural commitment between two or more people.
There is a sense of mutual trust, compassion, concern and also sharing of opinions, hobbies or other interests among the friends.
Maintaining a friendship with someone throughout the life is quite tricky as our interests, hobbies and lifestyle tend to change as we age.
Some friendships begin at a young age while some begin later in life. It is the most loyal and committed feeling person can have.
It is probably the purest and most satisfying relationship in life, and it does involve the feeling of admiration, respect and love as well. It is said that every love story begins with friendship.
Main Differences Between Love and Friendship
- Friendship is a relationship that is between two or more people, whereas love is a romantic relationship between only two people.
- Love is a feeling of personal attraction towards another person wherein two people need not be in a relationship with each other. On the other hand, we cannot call any person a friend without the foundation of a relationship.
- There are various forms of love, and it can be directed towards a friend, family, spouse, etc. friendship; however, is the establishment for multiple types of relationships.
- Love in the term of romantic love is restricted to two people. In contrast, friendship does not involve any such restrictions. It may involve more than two people.
- Friendship is idealistic, which is not physical or sexual, whereas romantic love involves a sexual or physical relationship.
- Love involves a more profound sense of attachment and also the attraction. Friendship, however, does not include such deep feelings.
- https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=nTCMc9a7S7sC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=Love+and+Friendship&ots=wQfCGFndgv&sig=MQtcrnNRPW3JfUsHOdrzhjpkQng
- https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1983-09388-001
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Emma Smith holds an MA degree in English from Irvine Valley College. She has been a Journalist since 2002, writing articles on the English language, Sports, and Law. Read more about me on her bio page.
