WO'N's post about strangers and saints reminded me of a phrase that keeps cropping up for me: "in the company of strangers." It's the title of a film (I think it was a Canadian film - it was certainly an indie release); it also appears in a couple of my favourite songs:

When I left my home and my family
I was no more than a boy
In the company of strangers
In the quiet of the railway station
Running scared....(from Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer")

and

I went in search of alchemy to resurrect the dead
Sent my spies to fathom out the secrets in your head
They said they heard your laughter spinning through the summer night
In the company of strangers, and your eyes were wild and bright....(from Al Stewart's "Where Are They Now")

What I'm wondering is, does this phrase have a recognizable, pointable-to origin? I tried looking it up in my Oxford UP Dictionary of Quotations but I got nuthin'. Haven't tried googling it yet but also wonder if others here keep stumbling across it, as I do?

It has a nice poetry to it, yet it's a sort of happy/sad phrase - "company" conveying warmth and togetherness, "strangers" conveying uncertainty and individuality.

You're right, mg: google throws up 7,500 'finds', and the few I looked at are of a very varied nature, from companies running back-packing tours to a learned paper on digital identity (don't ask - I didn't read much more than the title!)
This does seem to put the phrase into the category of 'Well Used' - possibly even into that of "Cliché"

The phrase doesn't appear in the Holy Bible, despite over 70 mentions of "strangers"
(http://godsview.com/ is a handy concordance, BTW)

Shakespeare is a bit better, with two possibles, but neither are exact.
The nearest is in King Henry 8th, Act 1 Sc 4, where "A noble troop of strangers" is announced to Cardinal Wolsey, who then refers to them six or eight lines later as "a noble company."
That's close, but probably not close enough.

The other Shakespearian reference is in All's Well that Ends Well, Act 4, Sc 1, where the Second Lord says, "He must think us some band of strangers ..." - this doesn't seem a very likely source.

Both of the above references are to "A company" rather than "The company ...", giving a rather different nuance to the word "Company."

I am left wondering if Simon and Garfunkel are actually the originators of the phrase - they are certainly very widely known and their lyrics are usually very original (not that that would debar them from using a cliché to make a particular point.)

Not the same quote, but it brings to mind Blanche Dubois's final speech in A Streetcar Named Desire: "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."