'Bright sunshine is boring'

All beings are swathed in veils of mysterious vapours. The pleasure of intimacy lies in the lifting of such veils, and seeing behind them the real contour of the mind. Love demands that the mystery be dispelled, yet it wants it to remain too. Bright sunshine is boring and puts one to sleep.

—André Maurois, Conversation (trans. Yvonne Dufour 1930)