Monsieur, beware of love! It is lying in ambush everywhere; it is watching for you at every corner; all its snares are laid, all its weapons are sharpened, all its guiles are prepared! Beware of love! Beware of love! It is more dangerous than brandy, bronchitis or pleurisy! It never forgives and makes everybody commit irreparable follies. Yes, monsieur, I say that the French Government ought to put large public notices on the walls, with these words: 'Return of Spring. Citizens of France, beware of love!' just as they put: 'Beware of paint'.

Guy de Maupassant, from 'In the Spring'