I knew only one thing—which I have learned well by now: Love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved. It finds its deepest meaning in his spiritual being, his inner self. Whether or not he is actually present, whether or not he is still alive at all, ceases somehow to be of importance.

— Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning, 1946, Beacon Press (2006 edition), p. 54-55