Quote by C.S. Lewis

Even in your hobbies, has there not always been some secret attraction which the others are curiously ignorant of--something, not to be identified with, but always on the verge of breaking through, the smell of cut wood in the workshop or the clap-clap of water against the boat's side? Are not all lifelong friendships born at the moment when at last you meet another human being who has some inkling (but faint and uncertain even in the best) of that something which you were born desiring, and which, beneath the flux of other desires and in all the momentary silences between the louder passions, night and day, year by year, from childhood to old age, you are looking for, watching for, listening for? You have never had it. All the things that have ever deeply possesed your soul have been but hints of it--tantalizing glimspes, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. But if it should really become manifest--if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound itself--you would know it. Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say 'Here at last is the thing I was made for.' We cannot tell each other about it. It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, the things we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds, when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work. While we are, this is. If we lose this, we lose all.

Summary

This quote explores the notion of a hidden attraction or desire that exists within each individual. It suggests that in our hobbies and interests, there is always a deeper longing that others may not fully comprehend. The quote proposes that true, lifelong friendships are formed when we meet someone who shares even a faint understanding of this desire. It states that everything we have ever cherished in life has only offered glimpses of this ultimate longing, leaving us yearning for its fulfillment. This desire is described as the core essence of our souls, an indescribable and unshakeable want that persists throughout our lives. The quote concludes by emphasizing the importance of holding onto this desire, as it is the very essence of our existence.