Alexander Pope on Friendship

“What ill-starr'd rage Divides a friendship long confirm'd by age?”

“Trust not yourself; but your defects to know, Make use of ev'ry friend—and ev'ry foe.”

“Absent or dead, still let a friend be dear, (A sigh the absent claims, the dead a tear.)”

“Ah, friend! to dazzle let the vain design; To raise the thought and touch the heart be thine.”

“There is nothing that is meritorious but virtue and friendship; and indeed friendship itself is only a part of virtue.”

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