Freud's Love Letters

To his twenty-two year-old fiancee, Martha Bernays, in 1882:

"If you insist on strict correctness in the use of words, then I most confess that you are not beautiful. But I was not flattering you in what I said...What I meant to convey was how much the magic of your being expresses itself in your countenance and your body...I myself have always been insensitive to formal beauty. But if there is any vanity left in your little head I will not conceal from you that some people declare you to be beautiful, even strikingly so. I have no opinion in the matter."

To Martha in June 1884, after he had begun experimenting with cocaine:

"I will kiss you quite red and feed you till you are plump. And if you are forward you shall see who is stronger, a little girl who doesn't eat enough or a big strong man with cocaine in his body. In my last serious depression I took cocaine again and a small dose lifted me to the heights in wonderful fashion. I am just now collecting the literature for a song of praise to this magical substance."