A man reserves his true and deepest love not for the species of woman in whose company he finds himself electrified and enkindled, but for that one in whose company he may feel tenderly drowsy.

Nathan contrasts two kinds of romantic experience: the thrilling, “electrified” excitement of passion and the quieter intimacy of comfort. The “tenderly drowsy” companion suggests a relationship in which vigilance drops away—where one feels safe, unperformative, and at home. The line implies that enduring love is less about constant stimulation than about trust and ease, a bond that can sustain ordinary time rather than only heightened moments. It also carries Nathan’s characteristic epigrammatic skepticism about romantic ideals, puncturing the notion that the most intense attraction is necessarily the deepest attachment.