One, who is inflam’d with lust, feels at least a momentary kindness towards the object of it, and at the same time fancies her more beautiful than ordinary …. But the most common species of love is that which first arises from beauty, and afterwards diffuses itself into kindness and into the bodily appetite.
The amorous passion often starts with beauty. It is continued with the imagination, remarkable human faculty. It may be why, in bed, two lovers prefer turning off the lights—even if they find themselves beautiful. Lest us not underestimate the force of imagination, which embellishes even what is already beautiful.