The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
We are easily comforted for the misfortunes of our friends, when those misfortunes give us an occasion of expressing our affection and solicitude.
Interpretation
People often take comfort in their friends' misfortunes because it allows them to show care and concern.
This quote highlights the dual nature of human relationships, indicating that while we may feel empathy for our friends during tough times, there can also be a sense of satisfaction in being able to demonstrate our affection for them. It suggests that expressing our care can sometimes take precedence over the actual misfortune, as we derive comfort from the opportunity to connect.
In practice
During a eulogy, one might mention how they were able to support friends in their grieving process, referencing this quote.
The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Old men delight in giving good advice as a consolation for the fact that they can no longer set bad examples.
Some counterfeits reproduce so very well the truth that it would be a flaw of judgment not to be deceived by them.
Conceit causes more conversation than wit.
The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the body; after all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind, and they are in continual danger of breaking the skin and bursting out again.
To understand matters rightly we should understand their details; and as that knowledge is almost infinite, our knowledge is always superficial and imperfect.
The worst solitude is to have no real friendships.
If you want a friend in Washington, buy a dog.
A friend in power is a friend lost.
What vexes me most is, that my female friends, who could bear me very well a dozen years ago, have now forsaken me, although I am not so old in proportion to them as I formerly was: which I can prove by arithmetic, for then I was double their age, which now I am not. Letter to Alexander Pope. 7 Feb. 1736.
Friendship is the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words.
To embrace the whole world in friendship is wisdom. This wisdom is not changeable like the flowers that bloom and fade.
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