Friendship

"The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, Friendship



Emerson's essay on Friendship (1841) is essentially a tribute to the ways friendship enhances human lives. In it, he stresses the happiness that two people who meet on common ground can experience. As friendships grow, both parties learn to appreciate and admire the assets and accomplishments of the other and experience joy by observing their successes, according to Emerson. In the presence of a friend, "there is no winter and no night; all tragedies, all ennuis vanish."