and he loved her suddenly because she loved him. - William Somerset Maugham

The writer is more concerned to know than to judge.

It is clear that men accept an immediate pain rather than an immediate pleasure, but only because they expect a greater pleasure in the future. Often the pleasure is illusory, but their error in calculation is no refutation of the rule. You are puzzled because you cannot get over the idea that pleasures are only of the sense; but, child, a man who dies for his country dies because he likes it as surely as a man eats pickled cabbage because he likes it.

Considering how foolishly people act and how pleasantly they prattle, perhaps it would be better for the world if they talked more and did less.