You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by

When Anatole France wrote, “You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; in just the same way, you learn to love by loving,” he revealed a truth both practical and divine. France, one of the great minds of French literature, understood that the deepest arts of life cannot be mastered by theory — they must be lived. Love, he tells us, is not a lesson written in books or a formula to be understood by intellect. It is a living experience, learned only through the act itself. Just as a child learns speech by daring to speak, one learns to love by daring to love — imperfectly, vulnerably, but wholeheartedly.

The origin of this quote lies in France’s broader philosophy of life — one grounded in realism yet steeped in compassion. A humanist at heart, he saw that wisdom does not arise from avoidance of error but from the courage to engage with life in all its complexity. To love by loving means to enter life’s greatest classroom: the heart itself. It means to risk pain for the sake of joy, to make mistakes for the sake of learning, to give of oneself and grow through the act of giving. Just as there is no way to learn to swim without touching the water, there is no way to understand love without surrendering to it.

The ancients would have recognized this truth well. The Stoics spoke of virtue through practice — that one becomes just by doing just deeds, brave by performing acts of courage, wise by exercising discernment. In the same spirit, France extends this principle to love: one becomes loving through the practice of love itself. To love is both the lesson and the mastery, the seed and the harvest. This is why the mystics called love “the school of the soul.” They knew that every heart, in learning to love, is slowly being shaped toward perfection — not by intellect, but by experience.

Consider the story of Mahatma Gandhi, whose entire life was an exercise in learning to love through action. He did not arrive at compassion through meditation alone, but through countless acts of patience, forgiveness, and sacrifice. His principle of Ahimsa — nonviolence — was not passive idealism but active love. Each act of resistance without hatred, each gesture of peace in the face of cruelty, was his lesson in love. By practicing it, he became it. Gandhi’s life proves Anatole France’s truth: that love is not an idea to be believed, but a skill to be lived.

And yet, to learn to love is perhaps the hardest of all arts, for it requires the heart to be both strong and soft. It demands patience when one’s love is not returned, humility when one is wrong, and courage when one’s heart is broken. Many fear this learning, for it often begins with pain. But as the blacksmith tempers iron in fire, so love is refined through difficulty. Every disappointment, every forgiveness, every act of compassion strengthens the heart’s capacity to love more deeply. It is through loving — even when imperfectly — that the soul expands.

Love, as France teaches, is the great teacher of life. It teaches empathy, reminding us that others feel as we feel. It teaches endurance, proving that kindness survives even in suffering. It teaches faith, for to love is to trust in what cannot be guaranteed. And, above all, it teaches creation — for love is the energy by which all things grow. To learn love, then, is to learn life itself. For what is the purpose of speech, work, or study, if not to connect, to build, to love?

So, my child, remember this wisdom: do not wait to understand love before you begin to give it. Do not fear its clumsiness or its risk. Speak even if your words tremble; love even if your heart is unsure. For in each attempt, the heart becomes wiser. You will fail, and yet, you will grow. For as the river learns its path by flowing, so the heart learns its truth by loving.

Thus, as Anatole France reminds us, “You learn to love by loving.” There is no other way. Love cannot be mastered by reason — it is a sacred art learned only through devotion. Practice it in kindness, in forgiveness, in generosity, and in courage. The more you love, the more you will become love itself — and in that transformation lies the greatest lesson of all.