One of the strange things about friendship is that time together isn't cancelled out by time apart. One doesn't erase the other or balance it on some invisible scale. You can spend a few hours with someone and they will change your life, or you can spend a lifetime with a person and remain unchanged.
Interpretation
True friendship transcends time and distance, influencing lives profoundly.
This quote emphasizes the idea that the quality of friendship is not solely determined by the amount of time spent together. Rather, significant moments can have a profound impact on our lives, regardless of how much time we have known someone, while long-term relationships may not always lead to personal growth or change.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of relationships, you could quote this to highlight how deep connections can form in brief encounters.
People who lose children have their hearts warped into weird shapes. Some try to deny it has happened. Some pretend it hasn't. Losing friends or parents is not the same. To lose a child is beyond comprehension. It defies biology. It contradicts the natural order of history and genealogy. It derails common sense. It violates time. It creates a huge, black, bottomless hole that swallows all hope.
Friendships born on the field of athletic strife are the real gold of competition. Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust.
Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.
Michael Jackson? He was something more (than one of my favorite entertainers), a true friend. He wasn't just a genius. Above all, he was a good person, who gave so much. He gave people values, he encouraged them to better themselves all the time. He was far deeper and more authentic than people could see. He was misunderstood too many times
That's the problem with winning right from the start, thought Ender. you lose friends.
For there is no friend like a sister in calm or stormy weather; To cheer one on the tedious way, to fetch one if one goes astray, to lift one if one totters down, to strengthen whilst one stands.
I never enjoyed my work more than when I worked with William Powell. He was a brilliant actor, a delightful companion, a great friend and, above all, a true gentleman.
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