The Kiss

“You can say ‘I love you”
a thousand ways,
but you can say it better
with silence
and a kiss.”
Chloe Thurlow

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“Is not a kiss
the very autograph of love?”
Henry Theophilus Finck,
Romantic Love .

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What better way to celebrate the month of Love than with artistic impressions of a peculiar phenomenon that is at once more expressive than song, more articulate than philosophy, more romantic than roses, and more delicious (dare I say) than chocolate – The Kiss.

Expressed and understood in all languages, cultures, countries, and eras, the kiss is the very symbol of our simplest yet deepest affections.  So, pucker up, folks.  Gathered here are some of the world’s most beautiful sentiments and masterpieces culled from centuries of amore.  Enjoy!

Romeo and Juliet  by Frank Bernard Dicksee 1884

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“Soul meets soul on lover’s lips.”
Percy Shelley .

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“It’s the kind of kiss
that inspires
stars to climb into the sky
and light up the world.”
Tahereh Mafi, Ignite me .

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“My lips, two blushing pilgrims,
ready stand
to smooth that rough touch
with a tender kiss.”
Romeo, Romeo and Juliet

 

 

Pygmalion and Galatea  by Jean-Leon Gerome 1890

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“I’ve been alone with you inside my mind.
And in my dreams I’ve kissed your lips
a thousand times.”
Lionel Ritchie, Hello

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“Since the invention of the kiss,
there have only been five kisses
that were rated the most passionate,
the most pure.
This one left them all behind.”
The Princess Bride.

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“It is the Passion that is in a kiss
that gives to it its sweetness;
It is the Affection in a kiss
that sanctifies it.”
Christian Nestell Bovee.

Kiss by the Hotel Deville  by Robert Doisneau

“A man’s kiss is his signature.”
Mae West .

“Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.”
Albert Einstein .

“Then she was kissing him as she had never kissed him before…and it was blissful oblivion, better than firewhisky; she was the only real thing in the world.”
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Kiss  by Theodore Jacques Ralli 1887

“A kiss can be a comma, a question mark or an exclamation point.  That’s basic spelling that every woman ought to know.”
Jeanne Bourgeois, Mistinguett .

“Where should one use perfume?” a young woman asked.  “Wherever one wants to be kissed.”
Coco Chanel

Amore and Psyche, Children
by William-Adolphe Bouguereau 1890

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“A kiss makes the heart
young again
and wipes out the years.”
Rupert Brooke .

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“Now a soft kiss –
Aye, by that kiss,
I vow an endless bliss.”
John Keats .

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“If kisses were snowflakes,
I’d send you a blizzard.” .

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“Each kiss a heart-quake.”
Lord Byron

Erastes and Eromenos Kissing  by Briseis 480 BC

Ancient lovers believed a kiss would literally unite their souls because the spirit was said to be carried in one’s breath.

Lovers by a Fountain  by Modesto Faustini

Lovers in the Small Boat  by Max Pirner

What Each Kiss Means:
Kiss on the Forehead:  We’re cute together
Kiss on the Cheek:  We’re friends
Kiss on the Hand:  I adore you
Kiss on the Neck:  I want you, Now
Kiss on the Shoulder:  You are perfect
Kiss on the Lips:  I love you! .

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“A kiss, when all is said, what is it?  A rosy dot placed on the ‘i’ in Loving;
‘Tis a secret told to the mouth instead of to the ear.”
Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac

Prince Charming enlivens Snow White with a Kiss  By Walt Disney

“Kiss my eyes as I sleep so I can dream of you.” .

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“Promise to give me a kiss on my brow when I am dead. – I shall feel it.”
Victor Hugo, Les Miserables .

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“A man had given all other bliss and all his worldly worth for this, to waste his whole heart in one kiss upon her perfect lips.”
Lord Alfred Tennyson

The Kiss in Time Square

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“Nothing is more articulate than a kiss.”
Jarod Kintz, It Occurred to Me .

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“Kiss. The best way to shut a girl up.” .

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“Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you,
Tomorrow I’ll miss you.”
The Beatles, All My Loving

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“You’ve got an awfully kissable mouth.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Gatsby Girls

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The Kiss  by Francesco Hayez 1859

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“In one kiss,
you’ll know all I haven’t said.”
Pablo Neruda .

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“You should be kissed
and by someone
who knows how.”
Margaret Mitchell,
Gone With the Wind .

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“O kiss me into faintness sweet
and dim!”
Alexander Smith

Paolo and Francesca Kiss  by Amos Cassioli 1891

“How did it happen that their lips came together?  How does it happen that birds sing,
that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees
on the quivering summit of the hill?  A kiss, and all was said.”
Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

The Kiss  by Auguste Toulmouche 1890

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“You must remember this,
a kiss is just a kiss.”
Louis Armstrong, Casablanca

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“Kiss me
like there is no tomorrow.”

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“A kiss is a lovely trick
designed by nature
to stop speech
when words become superfluous.”
Ingrid Bergman

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The Kiss  by Auguste Rodin

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“Kissing is the means of getting
two people so close together
that they can’t see anything wrong
with each other.”
Rene Yasenek

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“Never a lip is curved with pain
that can’t be kissed into smile again.”
Brete Harte

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“Make me immortal with a kiss.”
Christopher Marlowe,
Doctor Faustus

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The Kiss  by Gustav Klimt 1909

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“O love! O fire! Once he drew
With one long kiss
my whole soul through
My lips, as sunlight
drinketh dew.”
Lord Alfred Tennyson .

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“Your kiss at night
is the sweetest for sure.
It allows me to dream
of a thousand more.”
Colin Benzie .

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I was trying to dream up something lovely to conclude this post, but I think with the beauty that has already been expressed, I will simply wish you, Dear Reader, a Happy Valentine’s Day.

Now go.  Find someone to kiss.

 
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