Help me find the aphorism, from my paraphrase

August 30, 2016 4:39 PM

I read a wonderful quote not that long ago, an aphorism about relationships, but now, no matter how hard I Google, I can't track the original down. Maybe you can help? The essence of it was: We misjudge the people we love twice: First for the better, and second for the worse.

I took it as a wonderful, pithy summation of falling in and out of love - we first delude ourselves into thinking our partners better than they really, and then, later, worse than they really are. But who said this, and how did they say it?

posted by bicyclefish to Religion & Philosophy (1 answer total)

Best answer: "He discovered the cruel paradox by which we always deceive ourselves twice about the people we love - first to their advantage, then to their disadvantage." from Camus' A Happy Death

(I know this because it was quoted in Fun Home by Alison Bechdel.)
posted by Daily Alice at 7:23 PM on August 30, 2016 [22 favorites]