Book: Red Notebook or Paris Quest « Cherchez la femme »

There is also such ephemeral love, which from the very beginning is doomed to a quick extinction. The problem is that you are only aware of this when it dries up.

Here it is, a property of youth - the ability to laugh until you drop. Growing up, you lose it. The sudden realization that the world around us and life itself are absurd to the point of absurdity in youth makes you laugh to the point of colic in your stomach. Twenty years later, the same thought evokes only a sad sigh.