Top voices on friendship: Seneca, Confucius, Epictetus, Paul Graham and 6 others.
Nearly everyone here who has written about it agrees that the people around you change you. They part on what follows from that: seek out the better, improve each other, keep away from the bad, or learn from everyone.
Our reading of what a group of claims have in common, one level above a korrent: a korrent is our reading of what somebody said, a view is our reading of what several korrents share. The claims are printed under it, so the sentence can be checked against them.
Nobody is filed under a view — claims are. A person is named here because a dated claim of theirs sits under it, and somebody whose claims sit under two views appears under both.
A viewour reading
Their wordsColleagues don't just affect your work, though; they also affect you. So work with people you want to become like, because you will.
Their wordsThe waters' virtues change with soil through which they flow; As man's companionship so will his wisdom show.
Filed here becauseEither way round: you change them, or they change you.
Their wordsIf a man has frequent intercourse with others either for talk, or drinking together, or generally for social purposes, he must either become like them, or change them to his own fashion. For if a man places a piece of quenched charcoal close to a piece that is burning, either the quenched charcoal will quench the other, or the burning charcoal will light that which is quenched.
A viewour reading
Their wordsHold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. Have no friends not equal to yourself.
Their wordsThere are three friendships which are advantageous, and three which are injurious. Friendship with the upright; friendship with the sincere; and friendship with the man of much observation:— these are advantageous. Friendship with the man of specious airs; friendship with the insinuatingly soft; and friendship with the glib-tongued:— these are injurious.
Their wordsDo not have evil-doers for friends, do not have low people for friends: have virtuous people for friends, have for friends the best of men.
A viewour reading
Their wordsAssociate with those who will make a better man of you. Welcome those whom you yourself can improve. The process is mutual; for men learn while they teach.
Their wordswhile the friendship of good men is good, being augmented by their companionship; and they are thought to become better too by their activities and by improving each other; for from each other they take the mould of the characteristics they approve
A viewour reading
Their wordsFor you must know, that if your companion be impure, he also who keeps company with him must become impure, though he should happen to be pure.
A viewour reading
Their wordsWhen we see men of worth, we should think of equalling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.
Their wordsWhen I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers. I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid them.
Their wordsKeeping friendships alive often becomes hard work and "friends for life" can quickly become "people I used to know" if you're not careful.
Their wordsYou want to you want to be able to walk into the rooms that you're in each day, and the good habit is the path of least resistance. It's the easiest thing to do. And a lot of the time you walk into rooms and it's the distractions that are easier to do and you feel like you're swimming upstream and trying to fight your environment to make a change happen.
Where this was said
Watch from 0:15:19 plays hereTheir wordsMany of our victories are owed to the mentors we have known throughout our lives, who have somehow helped us by guiding the path we have decided to pursue without asking for anything in return.
Matched by wording, not yet read into a view. The archive grows on its own, so this is where new claims wait for somebody to read them.
The full chronology, with every quote: friendship as a timeline · person by person, side by side · all topics · Something wrong? Tell us