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Article ON IMPRUDENT FRIENDSHIPS. ← Page 2 of 4 →
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On Imprudent Friendships.
after cutting and bruising one another until they can scarcely sfancf , are separated b y their friends—my , what is more remarkable , they sometimes shake hands , and agree to part friends ! Such are the common ideas of friendshi p ; and if such is the only friendship men expect to contract , surely they have little reason to complain if they should be disappointed . After having prostituted the how
name , can they expect the substance ? After having dreamt only of the sign , how can they expect the thing signified ? If we consider h ' ow those connexion ' s which are called friendships are formed ,. We shall the less wonder that they are unstable with most men : -it is sufficient to have been twice or thrice in each other ' s cosrmauy , they become thereafter friends , and' we are not to be surprised / if what is formed so hastily , should be as hastily dissolved . Houses that are thrown up quickly , and while the materials are green and unseasoned , cannot be expected to last long .
there are , on the other hand , some persons who entertain a notion of friendship , so very celestial and romantic , as is not to be expected from the frailty of human nature . They mistake the nature of a fiend , just as much as the others of whom I have been speaking . They expect every thing from a friend , and in this are as much ? n fault as die others who expected any thing . Romantic notions of friendship are much cherished in novels and sentimental writings
- , - but their tendency is often fatal , and at all times pernicious . A veryshort intercourse with the world of men , convinces them that they have been reading of ideal beings , and their tempers are apt to be soured ; in consequence of which they entertain worse notions of men than they deserve .
There are two kinds of men from whom it is impossible to expect " real friendshi p ; and if we are sufficiently guarded against them , we shall be furnished with every necessary precaution against a world abounding in a mixture of characters . The one of these is , the lowminded i gnorant man ; the other is the bad or immoral man . With either of these I aver that it is impossible to form that connexion to which ive the
we g name of friendship ,, or , if in appearance formed , if will be utterly impossible to retain it , so as to reap the advantages of friendshi p when they are wanted . M y reasons are these : With regard to the ignorant and low-minded , friendshi p is not a pas ion , but an operation of the intellect . The understanding must ever be employed in perfecting itand in preventing those sallies of
, momentary regard , which savour more of whim and caprice than of friendship . Of all this an i gnorant man knows nothing , and a lowminded man will practise nothing . In such minds self-interest usually has a strong hold ; for I Would wish it to be understood that mere ignorance , without this poverty of sentiment and generosity , is a misfortune that may be remedied and never can be the object of
, censure . There is a wide difference between the ignorance of a man in whom the natural feelings have not been adulterated by vice , nor civilized and refined by education , and that of an illiterate mechanic , who , while he can scarcely spell his name , or comprehend a rational argument , can yet take pride in grasping more money than he who is
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Imprudent Friendships.
after cutting and bruising one another until they can scarcely sfancf , are separated b y their friends—my , what is more remarkable , they sometimes shake hands , and agree to part friends ! Such are the common ideas of friendshi p ; and if such is the only friendship men expect to contract , surely they have little reason to complain if they should be disappointed . After having prostituted the how
name , can they expect the substance ? After having dreamt only of the sign , how can they expect the thing signified ? If we consider h ' ow those connexion ' s which are called friendships are formed ,. We shall the less wonder that they are unstable with most men : -it is sufficient to have been twice or thrice in each other ' s cosrmauy , they become thereafter friends , and' we are not to be surprised / if what is formed so hastily , should be as hastily dissolved . Houses that are thrown up quickly , and while the materials are green and unseasoned , cannot be expected to last long .
there are , on the other hand , some persons who entertain a notion of friendship , so very celestial and romantic , as is not to be expected from the frailty of human nature . They mistake the nature of a fiend , just as much as the others of whom I have been speaking . They expect every thing from a friend , and in this are as much ? n fault as die others who expected any thing . Romantic notions of friendship are much cherished in novels and sentimental writings
- , - but their tendency is often fatal , and at all times pernicious . A veryshort intercourse with the world of men , convinces them that they have been reading of ideal beings , and their tempers are apt to be soured ; in consequence of which they entertain worse notions of men than they deserve .
There are two kinds of men from whom it is impossible to expect " real friendshi p ; and if we are sufficiently guarded against them , we shall be furnished with every necessary precaution against a world abounding in a mixture of characters . The one of these is , the lowminded i gnorant man ; the other is the bad or immoral man . With either of these I aver that it is impossible to form that connexion to which ive the
we g name of friendship ,, or , if in appearance formed , if will be utterly impossible to retain it , so as to reap the advantages of friendshi p when they are wanted . M y reasons are these : With regard to the ignorant and low-minded , friendshi p is not a pas ion , but an operation of the intellect . The understanding must ever be employed in perfecting itand in preventing those sallies of
, momentary regard , which savour more of whim and caprice than of friendship . Of all this an i gnorant man knows nothing , and a lowminded man will practise nothing . In such minds self-interest usually has a strong hold ; for I Would wish it to be understood that mere ignorance , without this poverty of sentiment and generosity , is a misfortune that may be remedied and never can be the object of
, censure . There is a wide difference between the ignorance of a man in whom the natural feelings have not been adulterated by vice , nor civilized and refined by education , and that of an illiterate mechanic , who , while he can scarcely spell his name , or comprehend a rational argument , can yet take pride in grasping more money than he who is