Nietzsche asks: “Supposing truth is a woman–what then? Are there not grounds for the suspicion that all philosophers, insofar as they were dogmatists, have been very inexpert about women? that the gruesome seriousness, the clumsy obtrusiveness with which they have usually approached truth so far have been awkward and very improper methods for winning a woman’s heart?”

At which point we must ask: What does it look like when one has won the heart of truth? What does it look like when truth rejects one’s advances? What kind of truth is it that can return love?

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When we face an enemy, we concern ourselves with the enemy’s mind. Understanding his mind is a means to the end of anticipating his actions. Respecting our enemy makes us stronger opponents.

When we love, we are concerned with actions as a means to the end of understanding someone’s mind. Love pursues the significance of every word and act, for the sake of what is behind it.

Lust, as much as it might resemble love, is actually more similar to the attitude one takes toward an enemy.