"All of us, men and women, are brought up in these aberrations of feeling that we call love.

I from childhood had prepared myself for this thing, and I loved, and I loved during all my youth, and I was joyous in loving.

It had been put into my head that it was the noblest and highest occupation in the world.

But when this expected feeling came at last, and I, a man, abandoned myself to it, the lie was pierced through and through.

Theoretically a lofty love is conceivable; practically it is an ignoble and degrading thing, which it is equally disgusting to talk about and to remember.