If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels But have not love I am only a resounding gong or clanging cymbal And if I have the gift of prophesy And can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge And if I have a faith that can move the mountains But have not love I am nothing If I give all I possess to the poor And surrender my body to the flames But have not love I gain nothing Love is patient Love is kind It does not envy Does not boast It is not proud It is not rude It is not self-seeking It is not easily angered It keeps no record of wrongs Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres Love never fails But where there are prophecies they will cease Where there are tongues they will be stilled Where there is knowledge it will pass away For we know in part and we prophesy in part But when perfection comes the imperfect disappears When I was a child I talked like a child I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child When I became a man I put my childish ways behind me Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror Then we shall see face to face Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known And now these three remain Faith, hope, and love But the greatest of these is love The greatest of these is love