The philosopher Alain Badiou describes love as arriving in the "absolute contingency of the encounter with someone I didn't know", and leading to a moment when the "declaration of love marks the transition from chance to destiny".

Rumi celebrates life in his description of the lover waiting for the beloved. "Come to the orchard in Spring," he says. "There is light and wine, and sweethearts/in the pomegranate flowers." Then? "If you do not come, these do not matter./If you do come, these do not matter."