I had friends. The idea of being forever separated from them and from all their troubles is one of the greatest sorrows that I suffer in dying. Let them at least know that to my latest moment I thought of them.
Interpretation
The quote expresses deep sorrow over the thought of leaving friends behind in death.
In this quote, Marie Antoinette reflects on the profound emotional connection she has with her friends and the pain associated with the idea of leaving them due to her impending death. She conveys that the bonds of friendship are so significant that the mere thought of being separated from them brings her great sorrow, emphasizing the importance of these relationships in her life.
In practice
During a heartfelt speech at a memorial, one might reflect on the enduring bonds of friendship using this quote.
Qu'ils mangent de la brioche. Let them eat cake. On being told that her people had no bread. Attributed to Marie-Antoinette, but remark is much older. Rousseau refers in his Confessions, 1740, to a similar remark, as a well-known saying. Others attribute the remark to the wife of Louis XIV.
I was a queen, and you took away my crown; a wife, and you killed my husband; a mother, and you deprived me of my children. My blood alone remains: take it, but do not make me suffer long.
No one understands my ills, nor the terror that fills my breast, who does not know the heart of a mother.
I trust we shall never be reduced to the painful extremity of seeking the aid of Mirabeau.
Being able to make friends and keep them, welcoming others and sharing with them, a guide, philosopher and friend. One like this will be praised.
People really do like seeing their best friends humiliated; a large part of the friendship is based on humiliation; and that is an old truth,well known to all intelligent people.
Anyone can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend's success.
A good friend and a bad friend are like a perfume-seller and a blacksmith: The perfume-seller might give you some perfume as a gift, or you might buy some from him, or at least you might smell its fragrance. As for the blacksmith, he might singe your clothes, and at the very least you will breathe in the fumes of the furnace.
Whoever understands how to do a kindness when he fares well would be a friend better than any possession.
I boldly assert, in fact I think I know, that a lot of friendships and connections absolutely depend upon a sort of shared language, or slang. Not necessarily designed to exclude others, this can establish a certain comity and, even after a long absence, re-establish it in a second.
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