How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints ~ I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! ~ and if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

~Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet; wife of Robert Browning (1806 - 1861)
Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850) no. 43 The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Oxford University Press, 2001.