Unrelated men give little joy to each other; will never suspect the latent powers of each.
 Ralph Waldo Emerson, Friendship (1841). copy citation

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Author Ralph Waldo Emerson
Source Friendship
Topic joy power
Date 1841
Language English
Reference in "Essays: First Series"
Note
Weblink https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Essays:_First_Series/Friendship

Context

“Now this convention, which good sense demands, destroys the high freedom of great conversation, which requires an absolute running of two souls into one. No two men but, being left alone with each other, enter into simpler relations. Yet it is affinity that determines which two shall converse. Unrelated men give little joy to each other; will never suspect the latent powers of each. We talk sometimes of a great talent for conversation, as if it were a permanent property in some individuals. Conversation is an evanescent relation, — no more. A man is reputed to have thought and eloquence;” source