I'd like to revise my opinion on the strongest emotion. I now believe it is not love or hate, but want.
Do you know why drug store romance novels sell? Everyone wants to believe in love. It does not matter that it's not going to happen to them -- it does not matter that "love" as a word is unattainable and unsubstantial. Romance novels and their ilk saw that princesses can find their princes and ride off on white horses to their golden castles. People want to believe that this can happen; the want keeps that glimmer of hope alive for them. To want to hate - or more realistic, to want to love - is stronger than any emotion, including love because it can bring you to the Edge, past the point of no return to the very brink of despair or hope. It is a very unsubstantial and flexible emotion, unlike the security of love and hate, and it can crush you in its grip or hold you like a flower bud waiting to open.
