The great effect of friendship is beneficence, yet by the first act of uncommon kindness it is endangered.
Interpretation
Friendship brings great benefits, but even small acts of kindness can put it at risk.
This quote by Samuel Johnson suggests that friendship has a profound positive impact on our lives, providing us with support and happiness. However, it also implies that the delicate nature of friendship can be threatened by our actions, emphasizing the need for care in how we express kindness and regard towards our friends.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of maintaining friendships, one might say, 'As Samuel Johnson wisely noted, the great effect of friendship is beneficence.'
To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.
He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.
To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of the weary pilgrimage.
Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.
When any anxiety or gloom of the mind takes hold of you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaining; but exert yourselves to hide it, and by endeavoring to hide it you drive it away.
A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other.
A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours. Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things-a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew old and achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly, he taught me about friendship and selflessness and, above all else, unwavering loyalty.
Good company, good wine, good welcome, can make good people.
I have had, and may have still, a thousand friends, as they are called, in life, who are like one's partners in the waltz of this world -not much remembered when the ball is over.
A man will speedily sit down and sympathize with a friend's griefs, but if he sees him honored and esteemed, he is apt to regard him as a rival and does not so readily rejoice with him. This ought not to be; without effort, we ought to be happy in our brother's happiness.
We spoke of how to say good-bye,β Jem said. βWhen Jonathan bid farewell to David, he said, βGo in peace, for as much as we have sworn, both of us, saying the Lord be between me and thee, forever.β They did not see each other again, but they did not forget. So it will be with us. When I am Brother Zachariah, when I no longer see the world with my human eyes, I will still be in some part the Jem you knew, and I will see you with the eyes of my heart.
Ye are the fruits of one tree and the leaves of one branch.
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