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Le plaisir de l'amour est d'aimer, et l'on est plus heureux par la passion que l'on a que par celle que l'on donne.

What does it mean? I'm a bit lost in

  1. What does d'aimer mean, "the love ", "be loved " or "to love"?

  2. What does l'on a que par celle mean, especially, what does celle refer to?

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"The love" : l'amour ; "be loved" : être aimé, "to love" : aimer.

But "est d'aimer" is "est de" + "aimer". If you have a voyel word after "de" it become "d'" for ease of pronunciation. Like in "mourir d'amour" or "amourette d'été". Another use of "est de" would be "L'objectif principal est de contribuer..." (The overarching aim is to contribute...)

Finally, "Celle" refer to "la passion" :

The pleasure in love is to love, and one is happier by the passion one has than by the one one gives.

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  • Do you mean the translation shall be "one is happier by the passion (given by others, or, be loved) than by the one that one gives (to love)."?
    – athos
    Commented Jul 24, 2016 at 7:37
  • Yeahs sorry it was'nt clear with "one's passion" I edited the translation so it's clearer ("the passion one has")
    – Jylo
    Commented Jul 24, 2016 at 7:40

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