Love

From Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, by Philip Dick:

"Haven't you ever loved a child? It hurts your heart, the innermost part of you, where you can easily die."

"I didn't know that," Jason said.

"Oh, yes. My wife says you can forget any kind of love except what you've felt toward children. That only goes one way; it never reverts. And if something comes between you and a child--such as death or a terrible calamity such as a divorce--you never recover."

"Well, hell, then"--Jason gestured with a forkful of sausage--"then it would be better not to feel that kind of love."

"I don't agree," Buckman said. "You should always love, and especially a child, because that's the strongest form of love."