Quotations

I like quotations, pithy words someone else has written that say things better than I can say them myself.  I recently encountered this quotation from C. S. Lewis, “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one.'" I also like finding quotations in context, being able to read what's around them.  Google Books is a great aid in that effort.

What I found when I went looking for this quotations is this from The Four Loves, "The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, 'What? You too?  I thought I was the only one.'"  Then a little bit later in that paragraph, "It is when two such persons discover one another, when, whether with immense difficulties and semi-articulate fumblings or with what would seem to us amazing an elliptical speech, they share their vision.  It is then that friendship is born.  And instantly they stand together in an immense solitude." 

It's entirely possible that somewhere else C. S. Lewis said, “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one" but, I didn't find it. I did find dozens of books quoting it this way without any citation.  This example is fairly harmless as the reworked quotation--if it is indeed reworked--says more or less what Lewis was saying.  Lewis wasn't as absolute in the context I found but, people generally understand hyperbole as hyperbole.  It's is a good example of how some ways of expressing things begin to take a life of their own.  It is is easy to become reckless with quotations in writing and speaking--especially when the quotation is that good.