Amitie: Friendship by Voltaire
November, 2008 | Quotes | 3 comments | Author: Voltaire
“This is the marriage of the soul, it is a contract between two sensitive and virtuous persons. I say sensitive because a monk, a solitary, may not be at all wicked and live without knowing friendship. I say virtuous because the wicked have only accomplices, the voluptuous have companions in debauchery, self-seekers have associates, the politic assemble the factions, the typical idler has connections, princes have courtiers. Only the viruous have friends. Cethegus was the accomplice of Catiline, and Maecenas the courtier of Octavius, but Cicero was the friend of Atticus. …”
From Voltaire – Philosophical Dictionary
Edited and translated by Theodore Besterman