It’s fortunate that other people’s outlook conflicts with ours, since then we have the chance to escape our narrow-mindedness and open ourselves to other values. I have lived in a community for twenty-five years, and I may have received more from people I found it hard to get along with than from those I found congenial. Those I found hard to get along with opened my horizons to other values, but if I’d only met people who agreed with me, I might never have glimpsed any new horizons.

Jacques Philippe, Interior Freedom, pp 62-63.