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.
Interpretation
Friendship is often seen as a lifelong commitment, but it's a misconception that every friendship must last forever.
H. L. Mencken's quote challenges the romanticized view of friendship as something that must be eternal or life-long. He suggests that it is a human delusion to think of friendships in such a rigid way, and that ending a friendship should not be seen as a discreditable act, but rather a natural part of life that can happen for various reasons.
In practice
In a speech about the evolution of friendships over time.
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
Strangers are family you haven't recognize yet
I think that women definitely have a special bond as friends that is hard to describe to men, and we don't often see that portrayed narratively.
The act of quiet nighttime talking, illustrates for me more than anything else the curious alchemy of companionship.
Let our friends perish, provided that our enemies fall at the same time.
You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?" "I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.
I have no trouble with y enemies. But my god damn friends... they are the ones that keep me walking the floors at night.
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