One can acquire everything in solitude except character.
StendhalRead
Friendship has its illusions no less than love.
Interpretation
Friendship, like love, can be clouded by misconceptions and fantasies.
Stendhal's quote highlights that friendships, similar to romantic relationships, are often influenced by illusions and idealizations. These misconceptions can shape our perceptions of our friends, sometimes leading to disappointments when the reality does not match our expectations.
In practice
This quote could be used during a speech about the nature of relationships, emphasizing the complexities of friendship.
One can acquire everything in solitude except character.
True love makes the thought of death frequent, easy, without terrors; it merely becomes the standard of comparison, the price one would pay for many things.
In love, unlike most other passions, the recollection of what you have had and lost is always better than what you can hope for in the future.
A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love.
If you don't love me, it does not matter, anyway I can love for both of us.
Pleasure is often spoiled by describing it.
Treat your friend as if he might become an enemy.
The sincere friends of this world are as ship lights in the stormiest of nights.
To make a point of declaring friendship is to cheapen it. For men's emotions are very rarely put into words successfully.
When I was young, I expected from people more than they could give: neverending friendship and constant excitement. Now I expect less than they can actually can give: to stay close silently. And their feelings, friendship, noble deeds always seem like a miracle to me: a true grace.
And the days went by like paper in the wind. Everything changed, then changed again. It's hard to find a friend. It's hard to find a friend.
A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud.
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