NewsLab

This is a quote of C. Raymond Beran about friendship which I gladly dedicate to my colleagues on this blog, to all of my good friends who cherish friendship and who have been and still are as sincere, supportive and honest as they can be… to you my friends…. and to this special friend.

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“What is a Friend? I will tell you. It is a person with whom you dare to be yourself. You soul can be naked with him. He seems to ask of you to put on nothing, only to be what you are. He does not want you to be better or worse. When you are with him, you feel as a prisoner feels who has been declared innocent. You do not have to be on your guard. You can say what you think, so long as it is genuinely you. With him you breathe freely. You can avow you little vanities and envies and hates and vicious sparks, your meannesses and absurdities and, in opening them up to him, they are lost, dissolved on the white ocean of his loyalty. He understands. You do not have to be careful. You can abuse him, neglect him, tolerate him. It makes no matter. He likes you. He is like fire that purges to the bone. He understands. You can weep with him, sin with him, laugh with him, pray with him. Through it all-and underneath-he sees, knows and loves you. A friend? What is a friend? Just one, I repeat, with whom you dare to be yourself!”

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