It's a hard business this dating business! Love is complicated!

When Scarlett Moffatt declared, “It’s a hard business this dating business! Love is complicated!”, she gave voice to a truth as ancient as humanity itself. Beneath her lighthearted tone lies an eternal lament—the cry of every heart that has sought connection and found confusion instead. Her words remind us that love, for all its sweetness and beauty, has always been a battlefield of emotions, a realm where joy and pain walk hand in hand. She speaks not just for the modern soul, but for all who have ever ventured into the vast, unpredictable sea of affection and longing.

To call it a “business” is to reveal how much effort, risk, and investment love requires. In ages past, love was guided by fate, by family, by divine signs. Today, it is a venture of the will—full of choices, missteps, and endless negotiation between desire and expectation. Moffatt’s words carry a trace of irony, yet they ring with wisdom: that the pursuit of love demands as much courage and persistence as any craft or trade. Those who enter it unprepared soon learn that the heart has its own economy—it gives generously, but demands honesty in return.

Her statement, “Love is complicated,” captures the essence of human experience. The ancients understood this well. The Greeks spoke of Eros, the wild and consuming passion that blinds reason, and Agape, the higher love that endures through understanding. Even Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, was said to bring both ecstasy and sorrow to those she blessed. For wherever love exists, complexity follows—it exposes our vulnerabilities, our hopes, and our flaws. To love is to step into the unknown, armed only with trust, knowing full well that hearts may break before they learn to mend.

History, too, bears witness to love’s complexity. Consider the story of Antony and Cleopatra, whose union burned so brightly that it consumed empires. Their love was not born of convenience but of passion so fierce it defied reason. Yet, in its grandeur, it also brought ruin. Their tale reveals that love, though glorious, is not simple. It demands sacrifice and self-awareness. It tests the boundaries of loyalty, ambition, and forgiveness. In every age, love remains the same—exhilarating and perilous, tender and cruel.

But Moffatt’s words are not a lament—they are a mirror held up to the modern world, where romance has become both easier to find and harder to keep. We live in an age of endless choice, yet endless choice often brings confusion. Love, stripped of patience, can feel like labor without reward. The ancients courted slowly, building trust through time; today, hearts race ahead, seeking instant connection. Her tone, half-humorous and half-sincere, reminds us that while times have changed, the struggle for true connection remains the same.

There is wisdom, too, in her admission of difficulty. By acknowledging that love is “hard”, Moffatt calls us to humility. To love another is not a task for the faint of heart—it is a discipline, a daily act of courage. It demands communication, compromise, and compassion. The greatest mistake one can make is to expect perfection in love, for perfection belongs to the gods, not to mortals. What makes love beautiful is not its flawlessness, but its perseverance—the willingness to try again, to forgive, and to grow through imperfection.

So let her words be a lesson to all who seek companionship: love is not a puzzle to solve, but a journey to walk. Expect hardship, but cherish joy; accept confusion, but seek clarity. When love feels complicated, remember that it is meant to be—for it is through its challenges that the heart matures. The wise do not flee from its difficulty; they embrace it, knowing that even in struggle, love teaches the soul to expand beyond itself.

And so, as Scarlett Moffatt reminds us, laugh at the confusion, weep at the heartbreak, and rise again. For though “the dating business” may be hard, and though love may be complicated, it remains the most sacred of all human endeavors. To love, despite the risk, is to live fully—and in that courage lies the truest beauty of the heart.