If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal¹. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
　　Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious² or boastful or arrogant³ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable⁴ or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
　　Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy⁵ only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I thought like a child; when I became and adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully⁶, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide⁷, these three; and the greatest of these is love.　　

         就算我能说万人的方言和天使的话语，但如果没有爱，我不过就如鸣锣一般；就算我有预知未来的能力，就算我精通各种知识和奥秘，就算我有坚定的信念，但如果没有爱，我就什么都算不上；就算我拿所有的财物周济穷人，就算我能做出舍己为人的壮举，但如果没有爱，我仍将一无所有。
　　爱是一种忍耐，爱是一种友善；爱不是嫉妒，不是自大，不是鲁莽，不是固执己见，不是轻易发怒。爱意味着憎恶不义，赞赏真理；爱意味着包容一切，相信一切，对生活充满希望，并能忍受生活中的一切。
　　爱是永无止境的，但又是有尽头的；就像知识一样，必将归于乌有。我们现在搜掌握的知识很有限，当我们掌握了完整的知识时，有限的知识必将归于乌有。当我还是一个孩子的时候，我像孩子一样说话，像孩子一样思考问题，像孩子一样推理；但我一旦成年，就不再像孩子一样了。现阶段，我们很多时候好像是从镜子里观看事物，对很多事物都看不清，但有朝一日我们会直面这些事物。现阶段，我知道的东西很有限，但有朝一日我会懂得一切。
　　如今，常存在人们心中的东西有三样：信念、希望和爱，而其中爱是最重要的！