love at first sight
An instantaneous attraction to someone or something. For example, With Peter and Constance, it was a case of love at first sight, or When Dave saw that car, it was love at first sight. This expression was already used by Chaucer for romantic attraction in Troilus and Cressida: "She loved right from the first sight." The transfer to objects dates from the first half of the 1900s.
Quotes:
"The advantage of love at first sight is that it delays a second sight." -
Natalie Clifford Barney
"Where both deliberate, the love is slight: Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at first sight?" -
Christopher Marlowe
"I do not think that what is called Love at first sight is so great an absurdity as it is sometimes imagined to be. We generally make up our minds beforehand to the sort of person we should like, grave or gay, black, brown, or fair; with golden tresses or raven locks; -- and when we meet with a complete example of the qualities we admire, the bargain is soon struck." -
William Hazlitt
