Is love a tender thing? It is too rough,
Too rude, too boist'rous; and it pricks like thorn.

--William Shakespeare
Romeo & Juliet

There will be little rubs and disappointments everywhere, and we are all apt to expect too much; but then, if one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better: we find comfort somewhere . . .

--Jane Austen
Mansfield Park

But the disparaging of those we love always alienates us from them to some extent. We must not touch our idols; the gilt comes off in our hands.
--Gustave Flaubert
Madame Bovary