Penny Dreadful2014

[Mr. Clare talks with Vanessa about what love is between two people]

John Clare:
[Mr. Clare describes it as] The kind touch of a hand.

Vanessa Ives:
I saw it earlier. I was having coffee with a friend. He's in love with someone, though I don't know if he knows it. But... she touched his hand. And his face... something I had never seen before. A kind of peace, anyway.

John Clare:
The cruelest kind. It's lethal, that touch... for it leaves your heart at the mercy of another. You're so unprotected.

Vanessa Ives:
We're all awkward in love. Mine has always gone awry. When I have opened myself to it in the past, it's left me... damaged. The consequences are too grave.

John Clare:
And what is our recompense? We who cannot cast out boats on that sea.

Vanessa Ives:
[Vanessa smiles] And how are we to navigate the waters when they are so alien?