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.
Interpretation
True friendship means celebrating each other's successes as genuinely as we empathize in times of sorrow.
In this quote, Charles Spurgeon highlights the tendency of people to quickly empathize with a friend's sufferings, yet often struggle to share in their joys. He suggests that rather than viewing a friend's success as competition, we should strive to take joy in their happiness, fostering a more supportive and loving relationship.
In practice
During a toast at a wedding celebration, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of supporting each other's accomplishments.
Amusement should be used to do us good “like a medicine”: it must never be used as the food of the man...Many have had all holy thoughts and gracious resolutions stamped out by perpetual trifling. Pleasure so called is the murderer of thought. This is the age of excessive amusement: everybody craves for it, like a babe for its rattle.
When you see no present advantage, walk by faith and not by sight. Do God the honor to trust Him when it comes to matters of loss for the sake of principle.
It is far easier to fight with sin in public than to pray against it in private.
You will never glory in God till first of all God has killed your glorying in yourself.
After faith comes repentance, or, rather, repentance is faith's twin brother and is born at the same time.
["All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant."] The original Hebrew word that has been translated "paths" means "well-worn roads' or "wheel tracks," such ruts as wagons make when they go down our green roads in wet weather and sink in up to the axles. God's ways are at times like heavy wagon tracks that cut deep into our souls, yet all of them are merciful.
Gandalf, dwarves and Mr. Baggins! We are met together in the house of our friend and fellow conspirator, this most excellent and audacious hobbit—may the hair on his toes never fall out!
A kind and gentle heart he had, To comfort friends and foes; The naked every day he clad When he put on his clothes.
A noble person attracts noble people, and knows how to hold on to them.
There is magic in the memory of schoolboy friendships; it softens the heart, and even affects the nervous system of those who have no heart.
We ought, all of us, to realize each other in this intense, pathetic, and important way. If you say that this is absurd, and that we cannot be in love with everyone at once, I merely point out to you that, as a matter of fact, certain persons do exist with an enormous capacity for friendship and for taking delight in other people's lives; and that such persons know more of truth than if their hearts were not so big.
If you want a friend in Washington, buy a dog.
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