But again it is a mistake to think that one makes a friend
because of his or her qualities; it has nothing to do with
qualities at all. If the friend has noble qualities, we admire them
because they are his; if he has obviously bad and even noxious
faults, how readily we condone them or overlook them! It is the
person that we want, not what he does or says, or does not do or
say, but what he is: that is eternally enough.
Of course, it does sometimes happen that we think we have made a
friend, and on closer acquaintance we find things in him that are
alien to our very being; but even so, such a friendship often
survives, if we have given our heart, or if affection has been
bestowed upon us--affection which we cannot doubt. Some of the
richest friendships of all are friendships between people whose
whole view of life is sharply contrasted; and then what blessed
energy can be employed in defending one's friend, in explaining him
to other people, in minimising faults, in emphasising virtues!
"While the thunder lasted," says the old Indian proverb, "two bad
men were friends.
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