“Unlike the puerile loyalty to a conviction, loyalty to a friend is a virtue - perhaps the only virtue, the last remaining one.”
Source: Encounter
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Milan Kundera 198
Czech author of Czech and French literature 1929–2023Related quotes
“The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one.”
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Friendship
Variant: The only way to have a friend is to be one.
Source: The Sword or the Cross, Which Should be the Weapon of the Christian Militant? (1921), Ch.6 p. 107
Context: The Christian militant is challenged to follow his convictions and to refuse all compromise with means and weapons that are unchristian. If he believes firmly that war is always an unchristian way of seeking to achieve a righteous end, he should be loyal to that conviction in the face of any pressure or danger, and be no less courageous than the soldier in battle. He should be loyal to his conviction even in the face of aroused public opinion and popular clamor. He should refuse to be swayed by frenzied passion or surface patriotism, but should remember that the truest patriotism is shown only by loyalty to one's highest moral convictions.
About Patriotism
Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 166
“Loyalty is not a small thing. I'm an old Irish pol. No loyalty is owed, if no loyalty was given.”
As quoted in "Debriefing Mike Murphy" https://www.weeklystandard.com/matt-labash/debriefing-mike-murphy (18 March 2016), by Matt Labash, The Weekly Standard
2010s
Hansard, House of Commons, 6th series, vol. 180 col. 465.
Conclusion of personal statement in the House of Commons on his resignation, 13 November 1990. Howe's invitation to "others to consider their own response" was interpreted as a direct call to Michael Heseltine to challenge Margaret Thatcher for the leadership of the Conservative Party.
