One measure of friendship consists not in the number of things friends can discuss, but in the number of things they need no longer mention.

The quote proposes that mature friendship is measured less by endless conversation than by shared understanding. As friends grow closer, they accumulate common knowledge—background, values, private jokes, and mutual history—so that many topics no longer require explanation or even mention. Silence and omission become signs of comfort rather than distance: what matters is not constant verbal exchange but the confidence that one is already known. The aphorism also hints at discretion and tact: close friends need not rehearse grievances, prove loyalty, or restate what has been settled. In this view, intimacy is efficient—built on trust, memory, and an unspoken sense of what can be left unsaid.