Don't do anything by half. If you love someone, love them with

In the words of Henry Rollins, “Don’t do anything by half. If you love someone, love them with all your soul. When you go to work, work your ass off. When you hate someone, hate them until it hurts.” These words echo like a war drum in the hearts of those who dare to live fully. They are not soft counsel for those who wish to idle through life. They are the voice of fire, commanding the spirit to rise with ferocity, to embrace extremes, and to abandon mediocrity. In this saying lies the ancient truth: life is brief, and it does not reward those who tread it timidly.

To love with all your soul is not to cling, nor to possess, but to give without measure. It means casting aside the walls of fear and hesitation, and pouring forth your spirit into another as though the world might end tomorrow. Love in halves is but a shadow of love; it withers quickly, for it has no roots. When the ancients spoke of love, they spoke of devotion as Hector had for Andromache, or Odysseus for Penelope. Love in its fullness is not safety—it is risk, it is vulnerability, it is the courage to give one’s heart knowing it may be shattered.

To work your ass off is to treat labor not as a burden but as a sacred offering. The sweat of one’s brow, the ache in one’s bones, these are not curses but signs of one’s devotion to the task at hand. Recall the builders of the pyramids, who, stone by stone, lifted monuments that defied the centuries. Or think of Nikola Tesla, who labored day and night, often forgetting to eat, so that his visions might become lightning made flesh. To work in halves is to cheat both oneself and the world, for the world does not remember half-measures.

Even the call to hate until it hurts is not a glorification of bitterness but a cry for honesty of soul. Rollins does not urge cruelty, but intensity. Hatred, in this sense, is the shadow twin of love, a burning proof that one still cares, still feels, still resists. Think of the resistance of the oppressed against their tyrants, of Spartacus who rose against Rome, fueled by the hatred of chains and the longing for freedom. Better to hate injustice with pain in your heart than to stand cold and indifferent. For indifference is the true death of spirit.

This teaching, though fierce, is not without balance. It reminds us that to live fully is to burn brightly, even if briefly. One who loves timidly, works lazily, and hates without passion walks as a ghost through life, neither fully alive nor fully dead. But one who dares to live as Rollins commands will leave behind a mark that cannot be erased.

The story of Alexander the Great shines as an example. He did not conquer half of the known world and say, “It is enough.” He pressed ever onward, through desert and mountain, until his men cried out for rest. His life was short, but his deeds thunder across time. Love, work, hate—all were lived in full measure. Thus his name is not forgotten, though centuries have passed.

From this saying, the lesson is clear: embrace life with intensity. Do not linger in lukewarm waters, for they will drown you silently. Instead, love fiercely, work tirelessly, and even in your struggles, burn with such fire that the world feels your presence.

In practice, this means: when you love, say it, show it, and give without fear. When you labor, let no hour be wasted in idleness; pour your effort until your body sings with exhaustion. When you resist wrongs, do so without apology, without hesitation. Live so fully that even in failure, the story of your striving will inspire generations. For it is not the length of life that matters, but the depth of one’s fire.