Two persons will not be friends long if they are not inclined to pardon each otherʼs little failings.
[L’on ne peut aller loin dans l’amitié, si l’on n’est pas disposé à se pardonner les uns aux autres les petits défauts.]
Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 5 “Of Society and Conversation [De la Société et de la Conversation],” § 62 (5.62) (1688) [tr. Van Laun (1885)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:
Two persons will not be friends a long time, if they can't forgive each other little failings.
[Bullord ed. (1696)]
Two Persons will not be long Friends, if they can't forgive each other little Failings.
[Curll ed. (1713)]
You will never go far in friendship unless you are ready to forgive each other's petty faults.
[tr. Stewart (1970)]
Quotations about:
failings
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
It is by means of my vices that I understand yours.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1844, Spring-Summer)
(Source)
He recorded this phrase multiple times, including in his lecture, "The Anglo-American" (7 Dec 1852), and Notebook S Salvage.
When you are offended at any man’s fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.
Epictetus (c.55-c.135) Greek (Phrygian) Stoic philosopher
(Attributed)
People in general will much better bear being told of their vices or crimes than of their little failings or weaknesses.
Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #204 (26 Nov 1749)
(Source)
Our faults and sins seem all the bigger when they are seen by the world against the excessively self-righteous picture that is our official version of ourselves.
Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) American journalist and author
“The Grace of Humility,” New York Herald Tribune (24 Sep 1957)
It is in our faults and failings, not in our virtues, that we touch one another and find sympathy. We differ widely enough in our nobler qualities. It is in our follies that we are at one.
Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) English writer, humorist [Jerome Klapka Jerome]
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, “On Vanity and Vanities” (1886)
(Source)
