Original artwork, not a still
The Friends of Voltaire • 1906
A Platonic friendship is perhaps only possible when one or other of the Platonists is in love with a third person.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The speaker suggests that friendship without romance survives only under special conditions: one of the friends must be romantically occupied elsewhere. It is a wry, sceptical observation that attraction usually interferes, so purely platonic closeness needs a distraction to stay safely friendly.
Context reviewed
