We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over.
Interpretation
Friendship develops gradually through small acts of kindness until a significant moment solidifies the bond.
This quote reflects the subtle and gradual nature of friendship formation. Just as a container fills with water drop by drop until it overflows, friendships grow through small gestures and acts of kindness that, over time, accumulate to create a profound connection. Eventually, there comes a pivotal moment when these accumulated kindnesses lead to a deep emotional bond, highlighting the beauty and importance of nurturing relationships.
In practice
During a speech about the importance of relationships, you can emphasize this quote to underline how friendships take time to develop.
I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview (Doing the Math - that means for every story he sold, he wrote six "un-publishable" ones. Keep typing!)
I never went to college, so I went to the library.
There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.
I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.
When I went to San Francisco in that cold late spring of 1967, I did not even know what I wanted to find out, and so I just stayed around a while and made a few friends.
As the yellow gold is tried in fire, so the faith of friendship must be seen in adversity.
I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.
Robert Mapplethorpe, I met in 1967. He was a student at Pratt, though even as a student a fully formed artist. We went through many things in our life together. He became my loved one, then my best friend.
A candle loses nothing when it lights another candle.
Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.
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