love regards a thing as it is in itself

From Whether knowledge is a cause of love?

Something is required for the perfection of knowledge, that is not requisite for the perfection of love.

For knowledge belongs to the reason, whose function it is to distinguish things which in reality are united, and to unite together, after a fashion, things that are distinct, by comparing one with another.

Consequently the perfection of knowledge requires that man should know distinctly all that is in a thing, such as its parts, powers, and properties.

On the other hand, love is in the appetitive power, which regards a thing as it is in itself: wherefore it suffices, for the perfection of love, that a thing be loved according as it is known in itself.

Hence it is, therefore, that a thing is loved more than it is known; since it can be loved perfectly, even without being perfectly known.