Time draweth wrinkles in a fair face, but addeth fresh colors to a fast friend, which neither heat, nor cold, nor misery, nor place, nor destiny, can alter or diminish
Interpretation
Time may change our appearance, but true friendship deepens and endures regardless of circumstances.
This quote by John Lyly highlights the contrasting effects of time on physical beauty and deep human connections. While our faces may develop wrinkles as we age, the bonds we form with true friends only become stronger, enriched by shared experiences and resilience against life's adversities. True friendship is not swayed by external conditions or the passage of time; it remains constant and vibrant.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of enduring friendships.
A heat full of coldness, a sweet full of bitterness, a pain full of pleasantness, which maketh thoughts have eyes and hearts ears, bred by desire, nursed by delight, weaned by jealousy, kill'd by dissembling, buried by ingratitude, and this is love.
Sharing our depressions felt like having survived a war. The experience bonds you to the other person for life.
And then there are my friends, and they have their own lives. While they like to talk everything through, to analyze and hypothesize, what I really need, what I'm really looking for, is not something I can articulate. It's nonverbal: I need love. I need the thing that happens when your brain shuts off and your heart turns on. And I know it's around me somewhere, but I just can't feel it.
What is the most appropriate thing to say to a friend who was about to die. He answered:βtell your friend that in his death, a part of you dies and goes with him. Whenever he goes, you also g. He will not be alone".
But, of course, it isn't really Good-bye, because the Forest will always be there... and anybody who is Friendly with Bears can find it.
In the Friend-place nothing true can be said. Let Me Just Be Here.
The best time to make friends is before you need them.
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