Perspectives on Ideas. May 15, 2007. Freud. Friendship.

Note: A bold-face statement at the conclusion of a quote is my attempt to express a wordy or convoluted quote in plain English. RayS.

Freud
Freud 437 [Freud] was called…filthy-minded, prurient, a sexual maniac, a dealer in salaciousness and pornography, a defiler of the spiritual qualities of man, indecent, shameless, lecherous, bestial, a disgrace to his profession, and ultimately the anti-Christ. Irving Stone, The Passions of the Mind (Life of Freud). [The epithets that Freud endured.]

Freud 573 Before Freud began to explore the unconscious we lived in a dark cave as far as understanding human motivation or character was concerned. Irving Stone, The Passions of the Mind (Life of Freud). [Before Freud explored the unconscious, we could not understand human motivation or character.]

Freud 754 Freud…guilty, in Hebbel’s words, of having “disturbed the sleep of the world.” Irving Stone, The Passions of the Mind (Life of Freud). [Freud “disturbed the sleep of the world.”]

Freud 820 …as Nietzsche said of Schopenhauer, a thinker and investigator who knew how to stand alone and then drew many to him and with him…. Irving Stone, The Passions of the Mind (Life of Freud). [Freud knew how to stand alone and therefore drew many to him and with him.]

Freud 820 …made even his opponents indebted to him through the creative stimulus they derived from him. Irving Stone, The Passions of the Mind (Life of Freud). [Freud made even his opponents creative.]


Friendship
Friends and enemies 124 Bacon goes on to quote Bias, one of the Seven Wise Men of ancient Greece: “Love your friend as if he were to become your enemy, and your enemy as if he were to become your friend.” Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Francis Bacon. [Treat your friend as if he could become an enemy and your enemy as if he could become your friend.]

Friendship 341 Our intellectual and active powers increase with our affection. Emerson, Friendship. [We grow increasingly intellectually active when we are with friends.]

Friendship 42 Chorus: It is a strange form of anger, difficult to cure/ When two friends turn upon each other in hatred. Euripides, Medea. [When two friends turn to hate each other, it is difficult to cure.]

Friendship 108 Theseus: Alas! There should have been for men some certain signs to mark their true friends, some way of reading in their minds which one is true and which one not a friend at all. Euripides, Hippolytus. [We wish there were some way to tell who are our true and false friends.]

Friendship 78 "He who has many friends has no friend." Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Aristotle.

Friendship 78 …friendship requires equality; for gratitude gives it at best a slippery basis. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Aristotle. [Friendship requires equality; gratitude is a weak basis for friendship.]

Friendship 78 "Benefactors are commonly held to have more friendship for the objects of their kindness than these for him." Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Aristotle. [Benefactors are friendly toward those they benefit; those who benefit are less friendly toward their benefactors.]

Friendship 79 Aristotle's ideal man: …is of a disposition to do men service, though he is ashamed to have a service done to him. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Aristotle. [Aristotle’s ideal man does things for others but wants no one to do anything for him.]

Friendship 79 To confer a kindness is a mark of superiority; to receive one is a mark of subordination. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Aristotle. [The benefactor is the superior; the receiver sees himself as subordinate.]

Friendship 116 F. Bacon: A Friend is an ear. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Francis Bacon. [A friend listens to you.]

Friendship 369 Johnson: Why, there’s Baretti, who is to be tried for his life tomorrow, friends have risen up for him on every side; yet if he should be hanged, none of them will eat a slice of plum-pudding the less. Boswell, Life of Johnson, Vol. 1. [Though many friends support him, if he be executed, none of them will eat the less.]

Friendship 1174 And, must a selfish care for the spotlessness of our own garments keep us from pressing the guilty ones close to our hearts…. Hawthorne, The Marble Faun. [Will pride in our innocence cause us not to embrace the guilty?]