Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.
– William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Helena is saying that love depends on one’s perception of another person. It does not use eyes to see the beloved, but the mind. Therefore love is blind – Cupid is sometimes depicted with a blindfold on. Here the name Cupid, son of Venus and Mars in classical mythology, is a metaphor for love itself. This passage is also foreshadowing of the blind love between the Fairy Queen Titania and the ass-headed Nick Bottom.