Indeed, faithful love by the side of changing desires"! Interesting phenomenon! In other words that would be: The respectability of our existing relationship, and some of your amiable qualities, move me from time to time to come back to you from my excursions into other fields; if I again tire of you I renew my excursions, i.e., I take for myself full liberty to junket about wherever I can find anything. You can be assured, my dearest, that upon my excursions I never talk the least about "love" to any other woman; no, indeed not. I speak to her only of "desire." You will be convinced, my child, that my junketing can be charged only to "desire," which you must by no means ever mistake for "love." My "love" belongs to you alone, my "desire" also to others, which others are satisfied with the mere "desire" without "love," which you of course will not be able to understand, but which is nevertheless a lie. You can see from this, my child, how beautifully we men can reconcile "fidelity" with "change" by separating love from fidelity, and either make the beloved one believe that her competitors are mere mistresses or convince her that she herself is one likewise! We, however,
- ↑ Herzliche Liebe verbindet uns stets und treues Verlangen, Nur den Wechsel behielt still die Begierde sich vor,
