Never promise more than you can perform.
Publilius SyrusRead
Admonish your friends privately, but praise them openly.
Interpretation
It's better to give criticism in private and show appreciation publicly.
This quote emphasizes the importance of handling feedback in a relationship. When offering constructive criticism, it should be done privately to avoid embarrassment, while public praise strengthens bonds and encourages good behavior among friends. This balance promotes honesty and support in friendships.
In practice
In a speech at a friend's celebration, I would emphasize their strengths rather than vulnerabilities.
Never promise more than you can perform.
Pain forces even the innocent to lie.
In a heated argument we are apt to lose sight of the truth.
What a tragedy is help where it harms what it supports!
The miser is as much in want of what he has as of what he has not.
He who lives only for himself is truly dead to others.
Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.
The dog of your boyhood teaches you a great deal about friendship, and love, and death: Old Skip was my brother. They had buried him under our elm tree, they said-yet this wasn't totally true. For he really lay buried in my heart.
When you are not feeling particularly friendly but know you ought to be, the best thing you can do, very often, is to put on a friendly manner and behave as if you were a nicer person than you actually are. And in a few minutes, as we have all noticed, you will be really feeling friendlier than you were.
We must meet our duty and convince the world that we are just friends and brave enemies.
If someone falls down, pick them back up. Just because there's not a frickin camera in your face doesn't mean you don't have to look out for each other.
But listen to me first and swear an oath to use all your eloquence and strength to look after me and protect me.
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