He thought of long conversations in which he had taken part quite lately in Moscow—conversations in which it had been maintained that one could live without love, that passionate love was an obsession, that finally there is no such love, but only a physical attraction between the sexes—and so on, in the same style; he remembered them and thought mournfully that if he were asked now what love was, he could not have found an answer.
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: This quote sets the stage for the drama that is about to unfold between Laptev and Yulia. Defining love is something that continues to trouble Laptev throughout the story. His perspective on romantic love transforms so drastically that this pensive, idealistic Laptev is practically unrecognizable by the novella’s conclusion.

And it seemed to him that, because this girl did not love him, all possibility of the happiness he had dreamed of...
-- Narrator (chapter 1)