I love you, Dominique...

The Fountainhead (By Ayn Rand) is one of my favorite books till date. This book is very close to my heart ... as it resonates with my own opinions and personal philosophies...!! I have read this book umpteenth times... but every time I read this book... I learn/realize something new...!!

There is this one conversation where Roark (the protagonist) confesses his love to Dominique (the heroine). When I read it for the first time.... I was bowled over by the depth and sincerity of the feelings conveyed..!! His definition of love is so divine... so true... so perfect...!! And definitely... this is the only way I wish to be loved :)

“We never need to say anything to each other when we're together. This is for the time when we won't be together. I love you, Dominique. As selfishly as the fact that I exist. As selfishly as my lungs breath air. I breathe for my own necessity, for the fuel of my body, for my survival.

I've given you not my sacrifice or my pity, but my ego and my naked need. This is the only way you can wish to be loved. This is the only way I can want you to love me. If you married me now, I would become your whole existence. But I would not want you then. You would not want yourself-and so you would not love me long. To say 'I love you' one must first know how to say the 'I'. The kind of surrender I could have from you now would give me nothing but an empty hulk. If I demanded it, I'd destroy you. That's why I won't stop you. I'll let you go to your husband. I don't know how I'll live through tonight, but I will.

I want you whole, as I am, as you'll remain in the battle you've chosen. A battle is never selfless. [...] You must learn not to be afraid of the world. Not to be held by it as you are now. Never to be hurt by it as you were in that courtroom. I must let you learn it. I can't help you. You must find your own way. When you have, you'll come back to me. They won't destroy me, Dominique. And they won't destroy you. You'll win, because you've chosen the hardest way of fighting for your freedom from the world. I'll wait for you. I love you.

I'm saying this now for all the years we'll have to wait. I love you, Dominique.”

Love