Wiesel, who survived unimaginable loss, recognized something love often obscures: romance can be consuming and temporary, but friendship teaches us who we are through sustained, unglamorous presence. A spouse may inspire passion; a true friend witnesses your failures, your small kindnesses, your evolution across decades. Consider how you still carry mannerisms, jokes, or ways of seeing the world picked up from a friend you haven't seen in years—that's the mark he means, the quiet embedding of another person into your very texture. Love asks us to surrender; friendship asks us to become.