Do we love by #vanity, for the favourable opinion of the other?
Praise never gives us much pleasure, unless it concur with our own opinion, and extol us for those qualities, in which we chiefly excel.
Others’ agreement, already a source of pride, causes even more pleasure when coming from a desired partner, thus becoming an additional reason why both parties would make a relationship last.
To seek the affection from someone who recognizes and praises one’s own qualities: it is particularly true in love, in which the ultimate—however impossible—objective is the eternal union:
When esteem is obtained after a long and intimate acquaintance, it gratifies our vanity in a peculiar manner.
By amorous passion, indeed (different passions reinforce each other when they concur to the same object); and thus by #pride, for the relation of pleasure it brings to the Self.