“Late have I loved you, beauty so ancient, so new, late have I loved You. And see: You were within, inside me, and I was outside; and out there I sought you, and I—misshapen—chased after the beautiful shapes You had made. You were with me, but I was not with You. Beautiful things kept me far off from You—things which, if not in You, would not be, not be at all. You called and shouted out and shattered my deafness. You flashed, You blazed, and my blindness fled. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and panted for You. I tasted You, and hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for Your peace.”
Augustine, Confessions, 10.27.38.