There is nothing worth the wear of winning, but laughter and the love of friends.
James BoswellRead
A companion loves some agreeable qualities which a man may possess, but a friend loves the man himself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True friendship goes beyond superficial qualities and embraces the entire person.
This quote by James Boswell emphasizes the distinction between companionship and true friendship. While a companion may appreciate certain agreeable traits in a person, a true friend values and loves the individual for who they are in their entirety, including their flaws and imperfections.
Themes
FriendshipLoveCompanionshipQualitiesAcceptance
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of genuine relationships, you might quote this to highlight the difference between friends and mere acquaintances.
More from James Boswell
All quotes βHe who has provoked the lash of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it.
James BoswellRead
Friendship, "the wine of life," should, like a well-stocked cellar, be continually renewed.
James BoswellRead
Wine makes a man better pleased with himself. I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others. Sometimes it does. But the danger is, that while a man grows better pleased with himself, he may be growing less pleasing to others. Wine gives a man nothing. It neither gives him knowledge nor wit; it only animates a man, and enables him to bring out what a dread of the company has presented.
James BoswellRead
Similar quotes
Go up close to your friend, but do not go over to him! We should also respect the enemy in our friend.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Friendship is so weird. You just pick a human you've met and you're like, 'Yep, I like this one,' and you just do stuff with them.
Bill MurrayRead
Men kick friendship around like a football, but it doesn't seem to crack. Women treat it like glass and it goes to pieces.
Anne Morrow LindberghRead
Books like friends, should be few and well-chosen.
Samuel JohnsonRead
A melancholy lesson of advancing years is the realisation that you can't make old friends.
Christopher HitchensRead
A doubtful friend is worse than a certain enemy. Let a man be one thing or the other, and we then know how to meet him.
AesopRead