We are most of us very lonely in this world; you who have any who love you, cling to them and thank God.
—Thackeray.
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long since canceled woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanished sight:
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.
—Shakespeare.
* * * * *
You shall perceive how you
Mistake my fortunes; I am wealthy in my friends.
—Shakespeare.
* * * * *
You must, therefore, love me myself, and not my circumstances, if we are to be real friends.
—Cicero.