Love prefers twilight to daylight.

Holmes’s aphorism suggests that romantic love often flourishes in partial concealment—preferring the softening, ambiguity, and privacy of “twilight” over the full exposure of “daylight.” Twilight implies intimacy, mood, and imagination: details blur, imperfections recede, and feeling can take precedence over scrutiny. Daylight, by contrast, stands for clarity, social visibility, and the sober tests of reality. The line can be read as a wry observation about courtship and secrecy, but also as a broader comment on how passion may resist analysis: love wants atmosphere more than evidence, and it can be diminished when subjected to harsh illumination.