“Every relationship between two individuals or two groups will be characterized by the ratio of secrecy that is involved in it. Even when one of the parties does not notice the secret factor, yet the attitude of the concealer, and consequently the whole relationship, will be modified by it.”

—  Georg Simmel

Source: The Sociology of Secrecy and of Secret Societies (1906), p. 462

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Georg Simmel 27
German sociologist, philosopher, and critic 1858–1918

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