When you are in love, it means that the person you love is of great personal,
selfish importance to you and to your life. If you were selfless, it would have
to mean that you derive no personal pleasure or happiness from the company and
the existence of the person you love, and that you are motivated only by
self-sacrificial pity for that person’s need of you. I don’t have to point out
to you that no one would be flattered by, nor would accept, a concept of that
kind. Love is not self-sacrifice, but the most profound assertion of your own
needs and values. It is for your own happiness that you need the person you
love, and that is the greatest compliment, the greatest tribute you can pay to
that person.