Human beings need loving human companionship. Babies who don't get enough cuddling sometimes die from a condition known as "marasmus," a profound failure to thrive. The souls of adults, often depicted in medieval paintings as tiny children, also wither without love. Life may not be quite as simple as the Beatles suggest — that all you would need is love — but without it, nothing else we have satisfies.

Barbara Cawthorne Crafton, Meditations on the Book of Psalms