“Love is like fire: it must be constantly fed, or it goes out.”François de La Rochefoucauld · Maxime · 1665 · Maxima 76
Rochefoucauld dismantles the illusion that true love is an eternal flame requiring no tending. Fire has a structure: it ignites by itself, but burns only as long as it has fuel, and small gestures, attention, and novelty are its wood. Neglect does not produce a gradual decline but a complete extinction, because a flame cannot be half-lit. A couple left with nothing but routine discovers, years later, that there is nothing left to rekindle.
Why it matters The line is a practical warning against passivity in relationships: love is not a possession but an activity. Whoever stops feeding it does not lose it slowly, but loses it entirely.