Diane Ackerman

One of the real tests of writers, especially poets, is how well they write about smells. If they can’t describe the scent of sanctity in a church, can you trust them to describe the suburbs of the heart?

We think because we smelled.

Some researchers conclude that a large part of our joy in kissing is really a joy in smelling and caressing each other’s face, where one’s personal scent glows.

the Elizabethan Age, lovers exchanged “love apples”—a woman would keep a peeled apple in her armpit until it was saturated with her sweat, and then give it to her sweetheart to inhale.