Pride is founded not on the sense of happiness, but on the sense of power.
William HazlittRead
Do not keep on with a mockery of friendship after the substance is gone - but part, while you can part friends. Bury the carcass of friendship: it is not worth embalming.
Interpretation
What this quote means
End a friendship that has lost its essence rather than pretending it still exists.
This quote emphasizes the importance of recognizing when a friendship has deteriorated beyond repair. Rather than clinging to a superficial bond, it encourages individuals to part ways on amicable terms while the relationship still holds some meaning, rather than continuing to mock the friendship with false pretenses.
Themes
FriendshipPartingHonestyRelationshipsMoving On
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of genuine relationships, one could use this quote to highlight the need for authenticity.
More from William Hazlitt
All quotes →The world loves to be amused by hollow professions, to be deceived by flattering appearances, to live in a state of hallucination; and can forgive everything but the plain, downright, simple, honest truth.
William HazlittRead
Our repugnance to death increases in proportion to our consciousness of having lived in vain.
William HazlittRead
We can bear to be deprived of everything but our self-conceit.
William HazlittRead
There are few things in which we deceive ourselves more than in the esteem we profess to entertain for our firends. It is little better than a piece of quackery. The truth is, we think of them as we please, that is, as they please or displease us.
William HazlittRead
Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity is a greater. Possession pampers the mind; privation trains and strengthens it.
William HazlittRead
Similar quotes
Of all the means to insure happiness throughout the whole life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.
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Books like friends, should be few and well-chosen.
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A man's friendships are one of the best measures of his worth.
Charles DarwinRead
Martin is your best friend, isn't he?' a sweet and well-intentioned girl once said when both of us were present: it was the only time I ever felt awkward about this precious idea, which seemed somehow to risk diminishment if it were uttered aloud.
Christopher HitchensRead
We've always had each other's backs in and out of competition. We support each other the most because we're the only ones that know what it's like to go through what we do, and so we can't be more thankful for each other. We're like sisters.
Simone BilesRead
The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead