“Love is a temporary madness; it erupts like
volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a
decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined
together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because
this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement,
it is not the promulgation of eternal passion. That is just being in
love, which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being
in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate
accident. Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other
underground, and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their
branches, they find that they are one tree and not two.”
—
Louis de Bernieres