Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Taken from Wikipedia: (ahh, good ol' wikipedia)

'Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a 1993 novel written by Louis de Bernieres, which takes place on the island of Kefalonia during the Italian and German occupation of World War II. The main characters are Antonio Corelli, an Italian captain, and Pelagia, the daughter of the local physician, Dr. Iannis.

"Captain Corelli's Mandolin" explores many varieties of love. We see the initial lust-based love betwen Pelagia and Mandras, which burns out as a result of the war, and the change it prompts in both of them. Corelli and Pelagia's slow-developing love is the central focus on the novel. Love is described by Dr. Iannis as 'What is left when the passion has gone', and it certainly appears that this criterion is fulfilled by the love of Corelli and Pelagia. The paternal love of Iannis for Pelagia is also strong and is heavily compared and contrasted to that of Corelli. '

I came upon this quote a few days ago, and was just absolutely stricken with it. The way Bernieres described love was in not only a simple and easy-to-relate-to manner, but also in a language that was both lyrical and beautiful.
This is definitely one of my favourite definitions of love.

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being 'in love' which any of us can convince ourselves we are.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."