I love fencing, in the first place as a Frenchman, because it is a national art, a fruit of the country, like conversation. What is fencing? It is to converse! For what is conversation ? is it not to parry, to return the thrust, to attack, to touch above all, if you can, and Heaven knows that at this game the tongue is as good a weapon as the foil. In France there is no longer judgment, there is partisanship. France, a country in which it is often useful to parade one's vices, and always dangerous to display one's virtues. The Frenchman erects statues in order to have the pleasure of throwing them down. "Down To cry "Long live somebody," or with so and so," is the great joy of a Frenchman. When a Frenchman speaks ill of himself, don't believe him; he is boasting. The English, pickpockets collectively, are honest as individuals. It is the opposite with the French, honest as a people, and pickpockets individually. L'Amitié et l'Inimitié. Il n'y a rien d'aussi difficile que de rester l'ami de quelqu'un.-Ch. Chincholle. La plupart des amitiés sont hérissées de si et de mais, et aboutissent à de simples liaisons, qui subsistent à force de sous-entendus.-Chamfort. Pour faire un bon ennemi, prenez un ami: il sait où frapper.-Comtesse Diane. Nous pardonnons aisément à nos amis les défauts qui ne nous regardent pas.-La Rochefoucauld. Trop d'amis, point d'amis.-A. Vessiot. La meilleure manière de s'attacher les gens est encore de leur demander des services.-Ch. Chincholle. Les amis, une famille dont on a choisi les membres.-Alph. Karr. Quand mon ami est malheureux, je vais le trouver; quand il est heureux, je l'attends.-Le Baron Petiet. Friendship and Enmity. There is nothing so difficult as to remain the friend of any one. Most friendships bristle with ifs and buts, and end in being simple companionships, which subsist with the aid of mental reservations. To make a good enemy, take a friend: he knows where to strike. We pardon easily in our friends the defects which don't concern us. Too many friends, no friends. The best way of attaching others to yourself is, moreover, to ask them for services. Friends—a family of which one has chosen the members. When my friend is unhappy, I seek him out; when he is happy, I await him. Il me semble quelquefois qu'il est plus facile d'aimer ses ennemis que d'aimer ses amis.-A. Vinet. L'amitié sincère se nourrit de souvenirs; l'amitié intéressée d'espérances.-Laténa. L'inconvénient des amis qui nous connaissent de longtemps est qu'ils jugent de toutes nos actions, de toutes nos paroles, par la connaissance qu'ils ont de notre caractère. Ils nous jugent sur des préventions. Les étrangers ne nous prennent que comme des êtres raisonnables.-X. Doudan. Il y a peu de vices qui empêchent un homme d'avoir beaucoup d'amis, autant que peuvent le faire de trop grandes qualités.—Chamfort. Ce qui nous rend si changeants dans nos amitiés, c'est qu'il est difficile de connaître les qualités de l'âme, et facile de connaître celles de l'esprit.— La Rochefoucauld. Quand nous exagérons la tendresse que nos amis ont pour nous, c'est souvent moins par reconnaissance que par le désir de faire juger de notre mérite.-La Rochefoucauld. Rien ne vaut des amis à qui on se sent inutiles. . . Notre égoïsme ne redoute point leurs con ... It seems to me sometimes that it is easier to love one's enemies than to love one's friends. Sincere friendship is nourished on memories; interested friendship on hopes. The disadvantage of old friends is that they judge all our actions, all our words, by their knowledge of our character. They estimate us by their preconceptions. Strangers only take reasonable beings. us for Few vices prevent a man from having many friends, as much as too great qualities may do. What makes us so changeable in our friendships, is that it is difficult to discern the qualities of the soul, and easy to discern those of the intellect. When we exaggerate our friends' love for us, it is often less from gratitude than from the desire to create a favourable impression of our merit. Nothing equals friends to whom you feel yourself useless. ... Our egoism does not dread their |