To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.
Harriet Beecher StoweRead
Once, in an age, God sends to some of us a friend who loves in us, not a false imagining, an unreal character, but, looking through all the rubbish of our imperfections, loves in us the divine ideal of our nature, β loves, not the man that we are, but the angel that we may be.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True friendship sees beyond imperfections and recognizes our potential and ideal self.
This quote by Harriet Beecher Stowe emphasizes the idea that a genuine friend appreciates us for who we truly are at our core, rather than focusing on our flaws. A true friend acknowledges our struggles and imperfections, yet believes in the best version of ourselves, encouraging us to strive towards our higher ideals and potentials.
Themes
FriendshipLoveImperfectionsPotentialSupport
In practice
Example use cases
During a toast at a wedding, one might say this quote to highlight the importance of unconditional love in a relationship.
More from Harriet Beecher Stowe
All quotes βWhat's your hurry?" Because now is the only time there ever is to do a thing in," said Miss Ophelia.
Harriet Beecher StoweRead
So much has been said and sung of beautiful young girls, why doesn't somebody wake up to the beauty of old women.
Harriet Beecher StoweRead
It is generally understood that men don't aspire after the absolute right, but only to do about as well as the rest of the world.
Harriet Beecher StoweRead
Death! Strange that there should be such a word, and such a thing, and we ever forget it; that one should be living, warm and beautiful, full of hopes, desires and wants, one day, and the next be gone, utterly gone, and forever!
Harriet Beecher StoweRead
What is it that sometimes speaks in the soul so calmly, so clearly, that its earthly time is short? Is it the secret instinct of decaying nature, or the soul's impulsive throb, as immortality draws on? Be what it may, it rested in the heart of Eva, a calm, sweet, prophetic certainty that Heaven was near; calm as the light of sunset, sweet as the bright stillness of autumn, there her little heart reposed, only troubled by sorrow for those who loved her so dearly.
Harriet Beecher StoweRead
Similar quotes
With another shock of excitement, Harry saw Sirius give James the thumbs-up. Sirius was lounging in his chair at his ease, tilting it back on two legs. He was very good-looking, his dark hair fell into his eyes with a sort of casual elegance neither James's nor Harry's could ever have achieved, and a girl sitting behind him was eyeing him hopefully, though he didn't seem to have noticed.
J. K. RowlingRead
The great motherhood friendships are the ones in which two women can admit [how difficult mothering is] quietly to each other, over cups of tea at a table sticky with spilled apple juice and littered with markers without tops.
Anna QuindlenRead
When you're hanging out with your friends, you reference books and movies, and you don't always know if your friends know what you're referencing. But you throw it out there, and if it connects, it makes people laugh.
Ernest ClineRead
It is like taking the sun out of the world, to bereave human life of friendship.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
Unlike the puerile loyalty to a conviction, loyalty to a friend is a virtue - perhaps the only virtue, the last remaining one.
Milan KunderaRead
Treat your friend as if he might become an enemy.
Publilius SyrusRead