For that is the secret of a lasting love, the one word: understanding. Only when there is this understanding, this common sympathy for each other, can true love function. The man must understand thoroughly the reasons for his loved one's strange actions at times. He must understand that his lover has her qualities which make her beloved to him and, being human, she also has her faults. It is
understanding these faults and making the necessary allowances for them that make for a long love life.
So it can be seen that the love which grows out of a long friendship is more desired than the love which is generated suddenly at first sight. If, after the sudden burst of first love, the lovers realize that they must learn to know each other thoroughly and they go about learning each other, then their love will be lasting. But, experience has proven that, usually, those lovers who are catapulted into a love affair at first sight are usually those who are quick-tempered. A hair-trigger emotion such as love at first sight can only be possessed by people with hair-trigger temperaments. Such people haven't the faculty for logical reasoning. Seldom, are they able to say to each other calmly and dispassionately, "Let's sit down and know ourselves." Instead, they fly into a love affair, imbibe hastily of the sweets of love, nibble speedily of the little tidbits and, as fast as they have flown into love, fly out of it. Love which is the culmination of a long friendship is not actuated by a hair-trigger. It sits down at the banquet of love slowly; it partakes of the hors d'oeuvres, the soup, the main course, all of the side dishes, everything including dessert. It enjoys to the fullest extent Ovid's "Banquet of Love."
