Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh. – W. H. Auden

When youre in love you never really know whether your elation comes from the qualities of the one you love, or if it attributes them to her whether the light which surrounds her like a halo comes from you, from her, or from the meeting of your sparks. – Natalie Clifford Barney

Love is a springtime plant that perfumes everything with its hope, even the ruins to which it clings. – Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880), letter to Louise Colet, 1846 October 7th, tr

Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it. – Henry David Thoreau