"The person whose doors I enter with most pleasure, and quit with most regret, never did me the smallest favor"

William Hazlitt’s reflection points to the mysterious nature of emotional attraction and human connection. He recognizes that the deepest draw towards another person, that sense of delighted anticipation when entering their presence and the poignant undertone of loss when parting, often defies logic or conventional expectations of gratitude or transactional benefit. The individual he describes has never offered tangible help, bestowed material gifts, or performed any favor. Yet, the allure of their company surpasses those who may have been overtly generous or helpful.

The source of this pleasure seems rooted not in what is done for us, but in intangible qualities such as temperament, shared sensibilities, or intellectual kinship. Hazlitt implies that the heart or spirit responds in ways the mind can neither command nor fully comprehend. His experience underscores that our greatest joys in companionship often arise from a mutual communion of feeling or being, rather than from indebtedness or overt acts of kindness. It is possible for one’s mere presence, their way of being in the world, their perspective, humor, or energy, to kindle affection and yearning more than grand gestures or favors ever could.

There’s also an undercurrent of humility and vulnerability; the feeling is unearned, spontaneous, and thus more precious. Hazlitt invites us to consider the authenticity of our attachments and to notice how often affection is awakened by the subtle, the ordinary, the unexplained, rather than by fulfillment of social obligations. The quote gently suggests that true pleasure and regret in our associations, joy in arrival, sorrow in departure, arise not from reciprocity but from an inexplicable alchemy. This recognition frees relationships from calculation and reveals the most meaningful bonds as those that simply, inexplicably, and unconditionally give us joy by their mere existence.