Impatience of the Heart

by Stefan Zweig

As a youngster of very limited experience I had always, till then, considered the pangs and longings of love to be the worst suffering the human heart could endure. But, from that hour, I began to see that there was another, grimmer agony to contend with, even worse than desire and yearning, namely to be loved against one’s will and find oneself incapable of fending off another person’s insistent attentions – to have to observe that devastating, scorching fervour of unrequited longing, and yet to stand there powerless, unable to muster the strength, or ability, or competence, to tear such a person away from the flames. A person unhappily in love can at least occasionally control his passion; he is after all not only the creature of his condition but also its creator; the lover who has not learnt how to master his feelings may at least be held liable for his own suffering. But there is no rescuing or helping a person who is loved and cannot love in return; he is no longer the one to set any measure or limit on that longing; it is beyond his control, and no willpower of his can withstand the will of one who yearns for him.