The idea that nations should love one another, or that business concerns or marketing boards should love one another, or that a man in Portugal should love a man in Peru of whom he has never heard --it is absurd, unreal, dangerous. The fact is we can only love what we know personally. And we cannot know much.

Summary

This quote aims to highlight the limitations of love and the absurdity in expecting love to extend universally. It suggests that love is conditional and dependent on personal knowledge and connection. The quote dismisses the idea of nations, organizations, or individuals loving each other when they lack personal familiarity. It implies that promoting such love can be unrealistic and even perilous because true love can only be fostered when there is a genuine understanding of the object of affection. The quote suggests that due to our limited capacity for knowledge, the scope of what we can genuinely love is inherently narrow.

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