To have or to have not

Another E.-.Schmitt's book was recently published in Bulgarian-"The dreamer from Ostende". In the title story the protagonist suffers a heartache and leaves for the remote city of Ostende just to get away from everything that reminds him of the object of his unrealized passion. There he rents a room in a cottage and his landlord-an old lady, asks him about the reason of his stay. He's open about his romantic misfortune and (I took the liberty to summarize their conversation in two lines):
- Do you think my broken heart will heal here?
-If it heals then it wasn't worth it to begin with.

Do we really want what we want or do we want it simply because we still don't have it? And when is it enough?