Both had had a wide and varied education; the man of God was the only person in all Nemours who was fully capable of understanding the atheist.

To be able to argue, men must first understand each other.

What pleasure is there in saying sharp words to one who can't feel them?
The doctor and the priest had far too much taste and had seen too much of good society not to practice its precepts; they were thus well-fitted for the little warfare so essential to conversation.

They hated each other's opinions, but they valued each other's character.

If such conflicts and such sympathies are not true elements of intimacy we must surely despair of society, which, especially in France, requires some form of antagonism.
It is from the shock of characters, and not from the struggle of opinions, that antipathies are generated.
The Abbe Chaperon became, therefore, the doctor's chief friend.