And now of course my melancholy woke once more. Her devotion once again put the whole “responsibility” upon me on a tremendous scale, whereas her pride had almost made me free from “responsibility”. My opinion is, and my thought was, that it was God’s punishment upon me.

I cannot decide clearly what purely emotional impression she made upon me. One thing is certain: that she gave herself to me, almost worshipping me, asking me to love her, which moved me to such an extent that I was willing to risk all for her.

Søren Kierkegaard, conflicted in his feelings for his fiancée Regina, Journals, 1841