They know about love

"They know after all this time about love-- that it's dim and unreliable, and little more than a reflection on the wall. It is also capricious, idiotic, sentimental, imperfect, and inconstant, and most often seems to be the exclusive preserve of others. Sitting in a room that was slowly glowing dark, they found themselves wishing they could measure its pure anchoring force or account for its random visitations. Of course they could not-- which was why, after a time, they began to talk about other things: the weather, would it snow, would the wind continue its bitter course, would the creek freeze over, would there be another power cut, what would happen during the night." -Carol Shields, "Others"