Aristotle, as you know, tells us in his Ethics that "friendship requires time and familiarity; as the proverb says, men cannot know each other till they have 'eaten salt together'; nor can they admit each other to friendship or be friends till each has been found loveable and been trusted by each." Today we are impatient and stay for none but hurried results. But Aristotle says, "Those who quickly show the marks of friendship to each other wish to be friends, but are not friends unless they both are loveable and know the fact; for a wish for friendship may arise quickly, but friendship does not."
It is telling that Aristotle devotes two whole books of his Ethics to friendship. You do not find a similar investigation in any modern philosopher, something that, to my mind, serves to point up the superiority of Aristotle's practical wisdom. I hope that you have become a friend of Aristotle--sed magis amica veritas--and will return to his Ethics in the years to come and take to heart his dictum, "The man who is to be happy will need virtuous friends."
...which I forwarded to a friend on the west coast whom I miss terribly and who needed a bit of cheering up.
Inspired by the timeless wisdom of Aristotle, my friend writes back with suggestions to a mutual friend who is just now sending out thank-you notes to attendees of a wedding reception a year ago.
"The man who is to be happy will need virtuous friends."
You'll do for now. Thanks for coming to our reception.
or:
"Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods."
Thanks for the toaster.
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