From Colin Dickey, Shoring Against the Ruins
Early on in his life, Benjamin developed an ethos towards others that he called eine Freundschaft der fremden Freunde, “the friendship of friends who maintain distance in their relations,” a mode he maintained throughout his life. It was a combination of extreme politeness coupled with emotional distance, a kind of “unsocial sociability,” which made him instantly attractive and alluring to others, while keeping even his close friends and lovers at a remove. It is this attitude that simultaneously made him into an almost mythical presence, while also allowing him to engage with multiple women without feeling particularly emotionally beholden to any of them.