Loving and being loved affirmed one's sense of self and conquered feelings of loneliness and alienation. It kept one sane.

He soon felt that the fulfillment of his desires gave him only one grain of the mountain of happiness he had expected. This fulfillment showed him the eternal error men make in imagining that their happiness depends on the realization of their desires.

Companionship was at the top of Epicurus's list of life's pleasures. He wrote, 'Of all the things that wisdom provides to help one live one's entire life in happiness, the greatest by far is the possession of friendship.

Happiness is a habit,
it’s more than fleeting,
more than a disintegrating lozenge.

Happiness is a conditioning of the mind and body so that happiness is totally within the way you perceive things and handle situations in life. You choose to be happy; happiness doesn't choose you. - Charmainism

You cannot borrow half of who you are from someone else, yet people try to do it all of the time, they just call it a relationship!