If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I.

If there is such a thing as a good marriage, it is because it resembles friendship rather than love.

I know not what quintessence of all this mixture, which, seizing my whole will, carried it to plunge and lose itself in his, and that having seized his whole will, brought it back with equal concurrence and appetite to plunge and lose itself in mine.

Kjærligheten er en lidenskap som blander et ganske lite kvantum solid substans sammen med et langt større kvantum forfengelighet og feberfantasier.

Men jeg innser klart at dette gode er svært vanskelig å gjenvinne; svakhet og lang erfaring har gitt oss en mer kresen og nøyeregnende smak. Vi forlanger mer samtidig som vi har mindre å tilby; vi vil ha flere valgmuligheter, når vi selv minst fortjener å bli valgt. Fordi vi vet at i er slik, blir vi mindre dristige og mer mistroiske, og i betraktning av vår egen og deres tilstand, er det ikke noe som kan forsikre oss om at vi er elsket.

Poetry reproduces an indefinable mood that is more amorous than love itself. Venus is not so beautiful all naked, alive, and panting, as she is here in Virgil.

In true friendship, in which I am expert, I give myself to my friend more than I draw him to me. I not only like doing him good better than having him do me good, but also would rather have him do good to himself than to me; he does me most good when he does himself good.

Oh, a friend! How true is that old saying, that the enjoyment of one is sweeter and more necessary than that of the elements of water and fire!

In love, 'tis no other than frantic desire for that which flies from us.