Liberty's in every blow! Let us do or die.
Robert BurnsRead
Here's to us, who's like us Damn few, and they're all dead.
Interpretation
This quote celebrates the rarity and value of true companionship.
Robert Burns' quote highlights a sense of camaraderie and loyalty among those who share deep bonds, suggesting that such connections are rare and precious. The phrase 'Damn few, and they're all dead' emphasizes that genuine friends are few and often lost, making the ones that remain extremely valuable.
In practice
In a toast at a reunion, one might say this quote to honor lifelong friends.
Liberty's in every blow! Let us do or die.
I'm truly sorry man's dominion has broken Nature's social union.
Love's first snow-drop, virgin kiss.
All-cheering Plenty, with her flowing horn, Led yellow Autumn, wreath'd with nodding corn.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to min?
Apropos, is not the Scotch phrase 'Auld Lang Syne' exceedingly expressive? I shall give you the verses on the other sheet. The words of 'Auld Lang Syne' are good, but the music is an old air, the rudiments of the modern tune of that name. ... Dare to be honest and fear no labor. ... Opera is where a man gets stabbed in the back, and instead of dying, he sings. ... Chords that vibrate sweetest pleasure thrill the deepest notes of woe. ... Critics! Those cut-throat bandits in the paths of fame.
I never meant to write about the experience of losing a good friend to breast cancer when I was going through it. But after it was over, I realized that although something deeply sad had happened, something truly beautiful also had.
One of the most mawkish of human delusions is the notion that friendship should be eternal, or, at all events, life-long, and that any act which puts a term to it is somehow discreditable.
The nearest friends can go With anyone to death, comes so far short They might as well not try to go at all.
It's like being a gym rat, but you're a theater rat, and then that becomes your fraternity house. That becomes your extended family.
Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty.
A friend is long sought, hardly found, and with difficulty kept.
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