I had friends. The idea of being forever separated from them and from all their troubles is one of the greatest sorrows that I suffer in dying. Let them at least know that to my latest moment I thought of them.
Interpretation
The quote expresses deep sorrow over the thought of leaving friends behind in death.
In this quote, Marie Antoinette reflects on the profound emotional connection she has with her friends and the pain associated with the idea of leaving them due to her impending death. She conveys that the bonds of friendship are so significant that the mere thought of being separated from them brings her great sorrow, emphasizing the importance of these relationships in her life.
In practice
During a heartfelt speech at a memorial, one might reflect on the enduring bonds of friendship using this quote.
Qu'ils mangent de la brioche. Let them eat cake. On being told that her people had no bread. Attributed to Marie-Antoinette, but remark is much older. Rousseau refers in his Confessions, 1740, to a similar remark, as a well-known saying. Others attribute the remark to the wife of Louis XIV.
I was a queen, and you took away my crown; a wife, and you killed my husband; a mother, and you deprived me of my children. My blood alone remains: take it, but do not make me suffer long.
No one understands my ills, nor the terror that fills my breast, who does not know the heart of a mother.
I trust we shall never be reduced to the painful extremity of seeking the aid of Mirabeau.
... the friendship of worthless people has a bad effect (because they take part, unstable as they are, in worthless pursuits, and actually become bad through each other's influence). But the friendship of the good is good, and increases in goodness because of their association. They seem even to become better men by exercising their friendship and improving each other; for the traits that they admire in each other get transferred to themselves.
I'd rather have two good friends, than 500,000 admirers.
Being able to make friends and keep them, welcoming others and sharing with them, a guide, philosopher and friend. One like this will be praised.
This group had a kind of dark glamour within the castle. They were a motley collection; a mixture of the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking some shared glory, and the thuggish gravitating toward a leader who could show them more refined forms of cruelty.
Friendship exhibits a glorious "nearness by resemblance" to Heaven itself where the very multitude of the blessed (which no man can number) increases the fruition which each has of God. For every soul, seeing Him in her own way, doubtless communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim in Isaiah's vision are crying "Holy, Holy, Holy" to one another (Isaiah VI, 3). The more we thus share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall all have.
When I do retire, I will miss the trips with the team, the jokes with my teammates, the habits: having breakfast with them, playing with them, all the little things.
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