Do not form friendships hastily, but once formed hold fast to them. It is equally discreditable to have no friends, and to be always changing one’s acquaintances.
It takes a lifetime of close intimacies to convince each of us, of our absolute, essential loneliness; to make us feel that speech is only clamour, that intercourse only means points of contact, that solitude is often our only substitute for peace.
—Esler.
Only a shelter for my head I sought,
One stormy winter night;
To me the blessing of my life was brought,
Making the whole world bright.