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SCMP Reporter

A well-written love letter can stand the test of time. Here are extracts from some of the most enduring, written by famous people:

Napoleon Bonaparte, December 1795, to his fiancee, Josephine, shortly before their wedding:

'I wake filled with thoughts of you. Your portrait and the intoxicating evening which we spent yesterday have left my senses in turmoil. Sweet, incomparable Josephine, what a strange effect you have on my heart!

'My soul aches with sorrow, and there can be no rest for your lover; but is there still more in store for me when, yielding to the profound feelings which overwhelm me, I draw from your lips, from your heart a love which consumes me with fire?'

Ronald Reagan to his wife, Nancy (left), 1983, on their 31st anniversary, written aboard Air Force One:

'I more than love you. I'm not whole without you. You are life itself to me. When you are gone I'm waiting for you to return so I can start living again. Happy anniversary, and thank you for 31 wonderful years.'

Ludwig van  Beethoven, 1806, to a lover he referred to as Immortal Beloved and whose identity has never  been discovered:

'My angel, my all, my very self ... We shall surely see each other; moreover, I cannot communicate to you the observations I have made during the last few days touching my own life. My heart is full of many things to say to you - Ah! - there are moments when I feel that speech is nothing after all.'

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (right) to his wife, Constanze, October 1790:

'Adieu, dearest, most beloved little wife. Take care of your health and don't think of walking into town. Do write and tell me how you like our new quarters. Adieu. I kiss you millions of times.'

Novelist  Leo Tolstoy to  his fiancee, Valerie Arsenev, November 1856:

'I already love in you your beauty, but I am only beginning to love in you that which is eternal and ever precious - your heart, your soul. Beauty one could get to know and fall in love with in one hour and cease to love it as speedily; but the soul  one must learn to know. Nothing on earth is given without labour, even love, the most beautiful and natural of feelings.'

Zelda Fitzgerald to  novelist husband F. Scott Fitzgerald, spring 1919:

'How can you think deliberately of life without me? If you should die, it'd be like going blind. I know  I would, too. I'd have no purpose in life - just a pretty decoration. Don't you think I was made for you? I feel like you had  me ordered - and I was delivered to you, to be worn. I want you to wear me, like a watch, charm  or button hole bouquet, to the world. And then, when we're alone, I want to help - to know that you can't do anything without me.'

Writer and poet Victor Hugo to childhood sweetheart Adele Foucher, 1821:

'Your soul is made to  love with the purity and passion of angels; but perhaps it can only love another angel, in which case I must tremble  with apprehension.'



With love from me to you ... lessons from history's romantics