Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open, and it stays. Clutch it, and it darts away.

Using the image of quicksilver (mercury), which slips and scatters when squeezed, the line suggests that love cannot be secured through force, control, or possessiveness. Openness—allowing space, freedom, and trust—lets affection remain present, while anxious grasping makes it vanish. The metaphor also implies love’s volatility: it is responsive to pressure and can change form quickly. In a broader sense, the quote critiques attempts to treat relationships as property or certainty; it frames love as something sustained by gentleness and restraint rather than domination. The epigrammatic style fits Parker’s reputation for sharp, compressed observations about romance and human behavior.