For Auld Lang Syne

Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

Friendship is essentially the same bond, whether it unites persons of intellect and refined tastes, or those more unfortunate ones, who, perhaps, have no conception of their mission in the world, or of their duty to society. Its manifestations may be wholly different, but the two friendships will have some points in common. In both instances the friends are drawn close together and are united by that bond which has been so beautifully written about throughout the ages.

The abstract theorizing of one philosopher can never satisfy the individual in regard to the varied manifestations of friendship, and it is therefore interesting and profitable to note what various writers have said about this world-wide force under the varying conditions of the past and the present. It would be a well-nigh hopeless task to attempt to gather within the compass of a single volume all that has been written about it. The present volume present some selections that express in a measure what is implied by the word Friendship.

For Auld Lang Syne

It is a noble and great thing to cover the blemishes and to excuse the failings of a friend; to draw a curtain before his stains, and to display his perfections; to bury his weaknesses in silence, but to proclaim his virtues upon the housetop.

—South.

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  E'en as a traveller, meeting with the shade
  Of some o'erhanging tree, awhile reposes,
  Then leaves its shelter to pursue his way,
  So men meet friends, then part with them forever.

—Hitopadesa.

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A true friendship is as wise as it is tender.

—Thoreau.

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As ships meet at sea—a moment together, when words of greeting must be spoken, and then away upon the deep—so men meet in this world; and I think we should cross no man's path without hailing him, and if he needs, giving him supplies.

—H. W. Beecher.

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A friend is more necessary than either fire or water.

—Proverbs.

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A long novitiate of acquaintance should precede the vows of friendship.

—Lord Bolingbroke.

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A beloved friend does not fill one part of the soul, but, penetrating the whole, becomes connected with all feeling.

—Channing.

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A reverse of fortune is a mighty sifter of friendship. So is distance. Go a little way out of town, and see how many people will take the trouble to come to see you. Well, we must be patient and forbearing. It is a question of intensity of need. Friendly relations depend upon vicinity amongst other things, and there are degrees; but the best kind of friendship has a way of bridging time and space for all that.

—Haweis.

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A female friend, amiable, clever, and devoted, is a possession more valuable than parks and palaces; and without such a muse few men can succeed in life, none be contented.

—Lord Beaconsfield.

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A true friend embraces our objects as his own. We feel another mind bent on the same end, enjoying it, ensuring it, reflecting it, and delighting in our devotion to it.

—Channing.

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A pretended affection is not easily distinguished from a real one, unless in seasons of distress....