Opportunistic relationships can hardly be kept constant. The acquaintance of honorable people, even at a distance, does not add flowers in times of warmth and does not change its leaves in times of cold: it continues unfading through the four seasons, becomes increasingly stable as it passes through ease and danger.
Interpretation
True relationships endure through good and bad times.
The quote emphasizes that opportunistic relationships are superficial and unstable, while genuine connections with honorable individuals remain constant and resilient regardless of external circumstances. Such relationships thrive through both prosperous and challenging times, growing stronger and more stable as they weather life's seasons.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of true friendships during tough times.
To overcome the intelligent by folly is contrary to the natural order of things; to overcome the foolish by intelligence is in accord with the natural order. To overcome the intelligent by intelligence, however, is a matter of opportunity.
First organize the inner, then organize the outer ... First organize the great, then organize the small. First organize yourself, and then organize others.
Strength is but one aspect of power.
Good generals select intelligent officers, thoughtful advisors, and brave subordinates. They oversee their troops like a fierce tiger with wings.
Battles are not won by strength alone!
Nothing is harder to see into thanpeoples nature. The sage looks at subtle phenomena and listens tosmall voices. This harmonizes the outside with the inside and the inside with the outside.
You can't make homes out of human beings.
In marriage you are not sacrificing yourself to the other person. You are sacrificing yourself to the relationship.
I feel wicked sleeping in a warm bed, while my dearest friends have been knocked down or have fallen into a gutter somewhere out in the cold night. I get frightened when I think of close friends who have now been delivered into the hands of the cruelest brutes that walk the earth. And all because they are Jews!
A great many men's gratitude is nothing but a secret desire to hook in more valuable kindnesses hereafter.
To memorize a scripture is to forge a new friendship.
Our lives are shaped as much by those who leave us as they are by those who stay. Loss is our legacy. Insight is our gift. Memory is our guide
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