Ralph Waldo Emerson "SOCIETY AND SOLITUDE"

"This hard to mesmerize ourselves, to whip our own top; but through sympathy we are capable of energy and endurance. Concert fires people to a certain fury of performance they can rarely reach alone.  Here is the use of society*: it is so easy with the great to be great; so easy to come up to an existing standard; as easy as it is to the lover to swim to his maiden, through waves so grim before.  The benefits of affection are immense; and the one event which never loses its romance is the encounter with superior persons on terms allowing the happiest intercourse. "

*psychic friends