Quote from the Ballad of the Sad Cafe – Carson McCullers

“But what sort of thing is love? First of all, it is a joint experience between two persons, but that fact does not mean that it is a similar experience to the two people involved. There are the lover and the beloved, but these two come from different countries. Often the beloved is only the stimulus for all the stored-up love which has lain quiet within the lover for a long time hitherto. And somehow every lover knows this. He feels in his soul that his love is a solitary thing. He comes to know a new, strange loneliness.

Now, the beloved can also be of any description: the most outlandish people can be the stimulus for love. Yes, and the lover may see this as clearly as anyone else–but that does not affect the evolution of his love one whit. Therefore, the quality and value of any love is determined solely by the lover himself. 

But though the outward facts of love are often sad and ridiculous, it must be remembered that no one can know what really takes place in the soul of the lover himself. So, who but God can be the final judge of any love? But one thing can be said about these three people–all of whom, Miss Amelia, Cousin Lymon and Marvin Macy, all of whom were subject to the condition of love. The thing that can be said is this: No good will come of it.”