Martin is your best friend, isn't he?' a sweet and well-intentioned girl once said when both of us were present: it was the only time I ever felt awkward about this precious idea, which seemed somehow to risk diminishment if it were uttered aloud.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the deep, often unspoken value of friendship and the discomfort that can arise from openly discussing it.
Christopher Hitchens highlights the delicate nature of friendships and how expressing their importance can sometimes feel awkward. The quote suggests that while one may recognize the significance of a friend, vocalizing that bond can lead to vulnerability or the fear of undermining its worth. Friends hold a special place in our lives, and the notion of discussing that bond openly may bring about an unforeseen tension, where the act of labeling it could somehow lessen its value.
In practice
In a speech at a friend's wedding, you might say this quote to highlight the importance of their friendship.
In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head - chemo-brain they call it. It's awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.
Let me tell you something: for hundreds of thousands of years, this kind of discussion would have been impossible to have, or those like us would have been having it at the risk of our lives. Religion now comes to us in this smiley-face, ingratiating way — because it’s had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But you’ve got no right to forget the way it behaved when it was strong, and when it really did believe that it had God on its side.
We have a saying in the Marine Corps and that is 'no better friend, no worse enemy, than a U.S. Marine.' We always hope for the first, friendship, but are certainly more than ready for the second.
Don't be dismayed by good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.
The great effect of friendship is beneficence, yet by the first act of uncommon kindness it is endangered.
Do not keep on with a mockery of friendship after the substance is gone - but part, while you can part friends. Bury the carcass of friendship: it is not worth embalming.
Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.
If you would keep your secret from an enemy, tell it not to a friend.
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