
“Never contract friendship with a man that is not better than thyself.”
Source Book in Ancient Philosophy (1907), The Golden Sayings of Democritus
“Never contract friendship with a man that is not better than thyself.”
“A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship”
“The better part of one's life consists of his friendships.”
Letter to Joseph Gillespie http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln2/1:88.1?rgn=div2;view=fulltext (13 July 1849)
1840s
‘Unreasonable Claims in Social Affections and Relations’, Chapter IX.
Friends in Council (First Series), (1847),
“It is wise to apply the oil of refined politeness to the mechanisms of friendship.”
Source: Le Pur et l'Impur (The Pure and the Impure) (1932), Ch. 9
“5272. Travel makes a wise Man better, but a Fool worse.”
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
“A little group of wise hearts is better than a wilderness full of fools.”
The Crown of Wild Olive, lecture III: War, section 114 (1866).