Original artwork, not a still
Friendship is born at the moment when one person says to another "What! You too? I thought that no one but myself."
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Lewis is describing the click you feel on finding another person who loves the odd thing you thought only you loved: the obscure book, the strange hobby, the cult film. That is why fans reach for it so often; it explains fandom in a sentence, and every convention, forum and group chat is a version of that first "you too?". It is also the line people quote when they want to say friendship is about shared truth, not shared company.
Context reviewed
In context
May contain spoilersShow the scene
C. S. Lewis wrote it in The Four Loves (1960), in the chapter on Friendship (Ch. IV), where he separates friendship from the other loves. Lovers, he says, are absorbed in each other, while friends stand side by side, absorbed in some shared interest or insight that each believed was his alone. The moment of discovery is the birth of the friendship. In the book the sentence trails off in an ellipsis after "no one but myself", and Lewis offers a plainer paraphrase of the same moment nearby.
Sources (1)
- Wikiquote: C. S. LewisThe Four Loves, Ch. IV (Friendship)Reference checked
Context reviewed
