--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There are friends with whom we share…" description: "\"There are friends with whom we share neither interests nor any particular experiences, friends with whom we never correspond, whom we seldom meet and t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bef/stanislaw-lem-7367_alarms_there-are-friends-with-whom-we-share-nei_2352010.jpg" --- # There are friends with whom we share neither interests nor… ![“There are friends with whom we share neither interests nor any particular experiences, friends with whom we never correspond, whom we seldom meet and then only by chance, but whose existence nonetheless has for us a special if uncanny meaning. For me the Eiffel Tower is just such a friend, and not…” quote by Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bef/stanislaw-lem-7367_alarms_there-are-friends-with-whom-we-share-nei_2352010.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bef/stanislaw-lem-7367_alarms_there-are-friends-with-whom-we-share-nei_2352010.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bef/stanislaw-lem-7367_alarms_there-are-friends-with-whom-we-share-nei_2352010.jpg) > “There are friends with whom we share neither interests nor any particular experiences, friends with whom we never correspond, whom we seldom meet and then only by chance, but whose existence nonetheless has for us a special if uncanny meaning. For me the Eiffel Tower is just such a friend, and not merely because it happens to be the symbol of a city, for Paris leaves me neither hot nor cold. I first became aware of this attachment of mine when reading in the paper about plans for its demolition, the mere thought of which filled me with alarm.” [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A deep, unexpected bond can form with objects or places we barely know, giving them personal significance beyond their practical role. **In simple terms:** Unexpected attachments give meaning to unfamiliar things. Key Takeaway Recognize and value subtle connections. Themes friendship attachment meaning place identity Mood nostalgic reflective Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - travel - urban exploration - personal reflection - art appreciation Key Concepts psychology symbolism subjective experience Questions to Reflect On - What objects hold hidden meaning for you? - How do you nurture unexpected connections? A Different Perspective Such bonds may be irrational and hard to explain to others. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Alarms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alarms/) [Attachment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attachment/) [Chance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chance/) [Cities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cities/) [Cold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cold/) [Demolition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/demolition/) [Eiffel tower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eiffel-tower/) [Existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) [Experiences Friends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experiences-friends-657203/) [Filled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/filled/) [Firsts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firsts/) [Friend](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friend/) [Friend Merely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friend-merely-2998175/) [Friends Correspond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friends-correspond-5730054/) [Friendship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friendship/) [Hot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hot/) [Interest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interest/) [Leaving me](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leaving-me/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Paper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paper/) [Paris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paris/) [Particular](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/particular/) [Plans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/plans/) [Reading](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reading/) [Seldom Meet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seldom-meet-644906/) [Share](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/share/) [Special](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/special/) [Symbols](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/symbols/) [Towers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/towers/) [Uncanny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/uncanny/) ## Related quotes > [“The difference between the word fiend and friend is merely one letter. I could easily be the latter. If you knew me better...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-delaney/the-difference-between-the-word-fiend-and-friend-is-merely-one-letter/) [Joseph Delaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-delaney/) > [You don't have the same experiences as all of your friends, hopefully. Instead, you meet people and something clicks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-beatriz/you-don-t-have-the-same-experiences-as-all-of-your-friends-hopefully/) [Stephanie Beatriz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-beatriz/) > [My life doesn't revolve around cars, hoes, chains, and clothes. I'm into real life relationships, experiences, friends, love, laughter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/my-life-doesn-t-revolve-around-cars-hoes-chains-and-clothes-i-m-into/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I am grateful to have found food. It has helped me understand and find a path out of those troubled times and move forward…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jock-zonfrillo/i-am-grateful-to-have-found-food-it-has-helped-me-understand-and-find/) [Jock Zonfrillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jock-zonfrillo/) > [Experiences with friends or family members coming out have helped millions of Americans to see past stereotypes and better understand what being gay is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-buttigieg/experiences-with-friends-or-family-members-coming-out-have-helped/) [Pete Buttigieg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-buttigieg/) > [To come home and share life experiences with friends is the key to what makes me feel really alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-blunt/to-come-home-and-share-life-experiences-with-friends-is-the-key-to/) [James Blunt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-blunt/) > [Most of my lyrics are little stories about my experiences or those of my friends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sade-adu/most-of-my-lyrics-are-little-stories-about-my-experiences-or-those-of/) [Sade Adu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sade-adu/) > [People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/people-of-the-same-trade-seldom-meet-together-even-for-merriment-and/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) > [“In the city, strangers seldom meet beyond daily functions. Instead, they brush by with a haste and preoccupation that so defines a century of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-krook/in-the-city-strangers-seldom-meet-beyond-daily-functions-instead-they/) [Joshua Krook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-krook/) > [People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/people-of-the-same-trade-seldom-meet-together-even-for-merriment-and-2/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) > [Good and quickly seldom meet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-herbert/good-and-quickly-seldom-meet/) [George Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-herbert/) > [Uninvited guests seldom meet a welcome.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop/uninvited-guests-seldom-meet-a-welcome/) [Aesop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop/) > [The innocent are so few that two of them seldom meet - when they do meet, their victims lie strewn all round.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/the-innocent-are-so-few-that-two-of-them-seldom-meet-when-they-do/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [I seldom meet actors, they are to me bright strange fishes swimming in an element alien to me; I feel that to meet them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/i-seldom-meet-actors-they-are-to-me-bright-strange-fishes-swimming-in/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [Vociferation and calmness of character seldom meet in the same person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-kaspar-lavater/vociferation-and-calmness-of-character-seldom-meet-in-the-same-person/) [Johann Kaspar Lavater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-kaspar-lavater/) ## More by Stanislaw Lem > [That human existence should repeat itself, well and good, but that it should repeat itself like a hackneyed tune, or a record a drunkard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/that-human-existence-should-repeat-itself-well-and-good-but-that-it/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [“. . . according to Lem's Law, 'No one reads; if someone does read, he doesn't understand; if he understands, he immediately forgets' --…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/according-to-lem-s-law-no-one-reads-if-someone-does-read-he-doesn-t/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [Futurologists have been multiplying like flies since the day Herman Kahn made Cassandra's profession "scientific," yet somehow not one of them has come out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/futurologists-have-been-multiplying-like-flies-since-the-day-herman/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [When the Universe was not so out of whack as it is today, and all the stars were lined up in their proper places,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/when-the-universe-was-not-so-out-of-whack-as-it-is-today-and-all-the/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [Psychoanalytic doctrine reveals the pig in man, a pig saddled with a conscience; the disastrous result is that the pig is uncomfortable beneath that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/psychoanalytic-doctrine-reveals-the-pig-in-man-a-pig-saddled-with-a/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [In Riemann, Hilbert or in Banach space Let superscripts and subscripts go their ways. Our symptotes no longer out of phase, We shall encounter,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/in-riemann-hilbert-or-in-banach-space-let-superscripts-and-subscripts/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [This is another lie. We are only seeking Man. We have no need of other worlds. A single world, our own, suffices us; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/this-is-another-lie-we-are-only-seeking-man-we-have-no-need-of-other/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [“Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him. (tr. by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/man-does-not-create-gods-in-spite-of-appearances-the-times-the-age/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [Cannibals prefer those who have no spines..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/cannibals-prefer-those-who-have-no-spines/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [Of the two powers, the two categories that take possession of us when we enter the world (from where?), space is by far the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/of-the-two-powers-the-two-categories-that-take-possession-of-us-when/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [“What was civilization ever, really, but the attempt by man to talk himself into being good? Only good mind you. The rest had to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/what-was-civilization-ever-really-but-the-attempt-by-man-to-talk/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [He who has had, has been, but he who hasn't been, has been had.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/he-who-has-had-has-been-but-he-who-hasn-t-been-has-been-had/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [“We know, but cannot grasp, that above and below, beyond the limits of perception or imagination, thousands of millions of simultaneous transformations are at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/we-know-but-cannot-grasp-that-above-and-below-beyond-the-limits-of/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him. Man can serve his age or rebel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/man-does-not-create-gods-in-spite-of-appearances-the-times-the-age-2/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [People make filthy things with the freedom they regained.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/people-make-filthy-things-with-the-freedom-they-regained/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) [Explore all 89 Stanislaw Lem quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) ## More Alarms quotes > [Were the life of man prolonged, he would become such a proficient in villainy, that it would become necessary again to drown or to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/were-the-life-of-man-prolonged-he-would-become-such-a-proficient-in/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [There's a statement from several members of the Senate, both Democrats and Republicans, including the Democratic leader, Charles Schumer; John McCain, the chair of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-stephanopoulos/there-s-a-statement-from-several-members-of-the-senate-both-democrats/) [George Stephanopoulos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-stephanopoulos/) > [Here in the UK the audience immediately reacts and they get the fact that: "What would be the most annoying thing in the world?"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/duncan-jones/here-in-the-uk-the-audience-immediately-reacts-and-they-get-the-fact/) [Duncan Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/duncan-jones/) > [It is a hard matter for a man to lie all over, nature having provided king's evidence in almost every member. The hand will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-allston/it-is-a-hard-matter-for-a-man-to-lie-all-over-nature-having-provided/) [Washington Allston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-allston/) > [Who then is free? the wise man who is lord over himself; Whom neither poverty nor death, nor chains alarm; strong to withstand his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/who-then-is-free-the-wise-man-who-is-lord-over-himself-whom-neither/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [Modern man threw a brick through his own window in order to sell himself a burglar alarm.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-carr/modern-man-threw-a-brick-through-his-own-window-in-order-to-sell/) [Allen Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-carr/) > [I understand the power and the alarm of words - Not those that they applaud from theatre-boxes, but those which make coffins break from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-mayakovsky/i-understand-the-power-and-the-alarm-of-words-not-those-that-they/) [Vladimir Mayakovsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-mayakovsky/) > [I don't know who Azazel is," he said. "Isn't he the cat from The Smurfs?" He cast about , but Isabelle just looked up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/i-don-t-know-who-azazel-is-he-said-isn-t-he-the-cat-from-the-smurfs/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [The beloved may be treacherous, greasy-headed and given to evil habits, or else it can be a man in his late forties who works…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelly-link/the-beloved-may-be-treacherous-greasy-headed-and-given-to-evil-habits/) [Kelly Link](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelly-link/) > [Those who have past much of their lives in this great city, look upon its opulence and its multitudes, its extent and variety, with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/those-who-have-past-much-of-their-lives-in-this-great-city-look-upon/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Unfortunately, I'm one of those idiots who knows everything about health and is in a constant state of alarm, and yet I continue to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-ames/unfortunately-i-m-one-of-those-idiots-who-knows-everything-about/) [Jonathan Ames](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-ames/) > [“batteries in the smoke alarms, and since he “just happened”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-lawson-timmer/batteries-in-the-smoke-alarms-and-since-he-just-happened/) [Julie Lawson Timmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-lawson-timmer/) > [When I see a new face, something sets off an alarm bell inside me. 'slow down! Danger!' Even when the attraction is strongest, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/when-i-see-a-new-face-something-sets-off-an-alarm-bell-inside-me-slow/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [It's gonna be awesome! A suspected pedophile dunks my kids head in a bucket so when she dies she can live in an invisible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-gould/it-s-gonna-be-awesome-a-suspected-pedophile-dunks-my-kids-head-in-a/) [Dana Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-gould/) > [I am sick of the girl who cries 'wolf' all the time. Even though not one of those cries was ever a false alarm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-wurtzel/i-am-sick-of-the-girl-who-cries-wolf-all-the-time-even-though-not-one/) [Elizabeth Wurtzel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-wurtzel/) [Browse all 360 Alarms quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alarms/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There are friends with whom we share neither interests nor any particular experiences, friends with whom we never correspond, whom we seldom meet and then only by chance, but whose existence nonetheless has for us a special if uncanny meaning. For me the Eiffel Tower is just such a friend, and not merely because it happens to be the symbol of a city, for Paris leaves me neither hot nor cold. 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