Men and women of equal culture, thrown together, are sure to be of a certain value to one another, more than men to men.
 Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849). copy citation

Context

“The sexes are naturally most strongly attracted to one another, by constant constitutional differences, and are most commonly and surely the complements of each other. How natural and easy it is for man to secure the attention of woman to what interests himself. Men and women of equal culture, thrown together, are sure to be of a certain value to one another, more than men to men. There exists already a natural disinterestedness and liberality in such society, and I think that any man will more confidently carry his favorite books to read to some circle of intelligent women, than to one of his own sex.” source