“Remember that there are two kinds of beauty: one of the soul and the other of the body. That of the soul displays its radiance in intelligence, in chastity, in good conduct, in generosity, and in good breeding, and all these qualities may exist in an ugly man. And when we focus our attention upon that beauty, not upon the physical, love generally arises with great violence and intensity. I am well aware that I am not handsome, but I also know that I am not deformed, and it is enough for a man of worth not to be a monster for him to be dearly loved, provided he has those spiritual endowments I have spoken of.”

“There are two kinds of beauty, one being of the soul and the other of the body,That of the soul is revealed through intelligence, modesty, right conduct,Generosity and good breeding, all of which qualities may exist in an ugly man;And when one's gaze is fixed upon beauty of this sort and not upon that of the body,Love is usually born suddenly and violently.”

“I am not loved. I am not a beautiful soul. I am not a good-natured, giving person. I am not anybody's savior.”

“Now it seems to me that love of some kind is the only possible explanation of the extraordinary amount of suffering that there is in the world. I cannot conceive of any other explanation. I am convinced that there is no other, and that if the world has indeed, as I have said, been built of sorrow, it has been built by the hands of love, because in no other way could the soul of man, for whom the world was made, reach the full stature of its perfection. Pleasure for the beautiful body, but pain for the beautiful soul.”

“You said I am a good man," he said. "But I am not that good a man. And I am--I am catastrophically in love with you.”

“Songs of myselfI am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul, The pleasures of heaven are with me and the pains of hell are with me, The first I graft and increase upon myself, the latter I translate into new tongue. I am the poet of the woman the same as the man, And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man,..”