[Leo Tolstoy to Valeria Arsenev — November 2, 1856 — Ssaint Petersburg]

I already love in you your beauty, but I am only beginning to love in you that which is eternal and ever precious – your heart, your soul.
Beauty one could get to know and fall in love with in one hour and cease to love it as speedily; but the soul one must learn to know. Believe me, nothing on earth is given without labour, even love, the most beautiful and natural of feelings.