November 23rd, 2006 | Published in Friendship, Quotes, Culture
In a highly child-centered society, where above all “attention must be paid” to children, friendship cannot hope to compete.
–Joseph Epstein, Friendship (2006), p. 65
November 20th, 2006 | Published in Relationships, Friendship, Quotes
Cicero says, truly, that “most people unreasonably … want such a friend as they are unable to be themselves, and expect from their friends what they do not themselves give.”
–Joseph Epstein, Friendship (2006), p. 63
November 17th, 2006 | Published in Love, Friendship, Quotes
“However rare true love may be, it is less so than true friendship.”
–La Rochefoucauld, quoted by Joseph Epstein, Friendship (2006), p. 55
November 13th, 2006 | Published in Friendship, Quotes
[F]riendship is affection, variously based on common interests, a common past, common values, and, alas, sometimes common enemies, in each case leading to delight and contentment in one another’s company.
–Joseph Epstein, Friendship (2006), p. 21
November 9th, 2006 | Published in Friendship, Quotes, Humor and Satire
I sometimes felt I was the perfect customer for a much needed but never produced Hallmark card that would read “We’ve been friends for a very long time,” followed on the inside by “What do you say we stop?”
–Joseph Epstein, Friendship (2006), p. 17
November 2nd, 2006 | Published in Friendship, Life, Quotes
Anyone I regard with attention easily imprints on me something of himself. What I consider, I usurp: a foolish countenance, an unpleasant grimace, a ridiculous way of speaking. Vices even more: once they prick me, the stick to me and will not go away without shaking.
–Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), “On Some Verses of Virgil” in The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate (1994), p. 92
June 16th, 2006 | Published in Nature, Friendship, Life, Quotes
Walking and talking are two very great pleasures, but it is a mistake to combine them. Our own noise blots out the sounds and silences of the outdoor world; and talking leads almost inevitably to smoking, and then farewell to nature as far as one of our sense is concerned.
–C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy (1955), p. 142
May 12th, 2006 | Published in Friendship, Quotes
[W]hile friendship has been by far the chief source of my happiness, acquaintance or general society has always meant little to me, and I cannot quite understand why a man should wish to know more people than he can make real friends of.
–C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy (1955), pp. 32-33