Love is ... wise?

Bertrand Russell once said in a television interview, when asked what messages he would want to send to future generations:

Love is wise, hatred is foolish.

His choice of words here (particularly "wise") struck me as worth thinking about. Russell had been asked a pretty challenging question: one that required him to attempt to distil a lifetime of experience and philosophical reflection into a couple of points, and then express them succinctly enough to make for decent television (by 1959 standards, anyway). And it's in that context that he said love was "wise".

Perhaps the phrase "Love is wise" jumped out at me because the word "philosophy" itself originally derives from a word for love and a word for wisdom. (I have sometimes found it interesting to think about this when navigating contemporary philosophical writing, which often seems to place rationality and reason centre-stage. I am a big fan of rationality and reason, but I don't suppose it exhausts wisdom: insightfulness is a core aspect of wisdom, distinct from either. The same goes for creativity, originality, and a sense of what matters.)

By the way, if you haven't heard it before, Bertrand Russell's speaking voice is completely amazing.

In fact, I find the whole interview sort of mesmerizing.