Pride is founded not on the sense of happiness, but on the sense of power.
William HazlittRead
We often choose a friend as we do a mistress - for no particular excellence in themselves, but merely from some circumstance that flatters our self-love.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Friendship is often influenced by our need for validation rather than the true qualities of the person.
In this quote, Hazlitt suggests that our choices in friendships often arise from shallow reasons that boost our self-esteem, rather than from a genuine appreciation of the other person's inherent qualities. It highlights the idea that friendships can sometimes be superficial, based more on circumstances and personal gratification than on the true excellence of character. This reflection urges us to consider the true basis of our relationships and whether they are founded in authentic connection or mere self-interest.
Themes
FriendshipSelf-LoveRelationshipsSuperficialValidation
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nature of friendships at a sociological seminar.
More from William Hazlitt
All quotes βThe 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
Service cannot be expected from a friend in service; let him be a freeman who wishes to be my master.
MartialRead
Talk well of the absent whenever you have the opportunity.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
We were not just competitors and colleagues, we were friends. We had a lot of opportunities to reflect on this in the last year. It was a competitive brotherhood.
Tom BrokawRead
For I do not want any one to read my book carelessly. I have suffered too much grief in setting down these memories. Six years have already passed since my friend went away from me, with his sheep. If I try to describe him here, it is to make sure that I shall not forget him. To forget a friend is sad. Not every one has had a friend. And if I forget him, I may become like the grown-ups who are no longer interested in anything but figures.
Antoine De Saint-ExuperyRead
To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets.
Barack ObamaRead
True friendship ought never to conceal what it thinks.
St. JeromeRead