Edgar A. Guest

1881–1959 · British-born American newspaper poet, "the People's Poet"

Guest was a hugely popular syndicated newspaper poet who published an estimated 11,000 sentimental, optimistic poems in some 300 papers over four decades. His 1915 poem Faith and 1919 poem The Unknown Friends are the earliest identified sources for the “strangers are friends not yet met” sentiment, though not in the exact wording now attributed to Yeats.

Traced to source

1 quote we’ve traced

“There are no strangers here; only friends you haven't yet met”

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