I could never, I knew then, lose myself "in love." Margery had accused me of coldness, and she was right, but she was also wrong: For me, for always, the paramount organ of passion was the mind. Unnatural, unbalanced, perhaps, but it was true: Without intellect, there could be no love.

Meaning: Distance may weaken a mild attachment while making an intense one feel stronger. The contrast between cooling and inflaming describes different possible responses to absence, rather than a dependable rule for measuring love or deciding how relationships should work.

Meaning: The saying contrasts idealised expectations during courtship with everyday experience in marriage. It invites attention to ordinary responsibilities before a commitment, but its gendered and absolute framing should not imply that marriage inevitably disappoints or that affection is merely illusion.

Editorial context: This metaphor criticises refusal to consider evidence. Visual disability is not unwillingness to understand, and disagreement alone does not prove refusal.

Meaning: Someone who refuses to consider available evidence may resist understanding more than someone who lacks information. The saying criticises deliberate avoidance, but its sight metaphor must not equate visual disability with unwillingness or ignorance.