Friendship
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6.Fair-weather friends and friendship in adversity
6a.Friends who follow prosperity and desert the fallen
See also: Love 7b · Wealth 3b
Aesop, FablesVol. 17
- p. 39Hare with many friends: all claim friendship but each declines help in danger, showing that popularity yields false friends who fail in need.read · scan
The Book of JobVol. 44
- p. 79–80Job says kindness is due from a friend to the afflicted; his brethren prove deceitful like dried brooks, failing him and trading on a friend.read · scan
The Book of PsalmsVol. 44
- p. 189In affliction his lovers and friends stand aloof from his plague, and kinsmen stay afar off: abandonment of the suffering.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On FriendshipVol. 9
- p. 27–28Tyrants and the powerful lack true friends, only fair-weather show; wealth and pride destroy fidelity; friends are life's most valuable possession and its consolation.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9
- p. 90Cicero complains that in his fall his friends have deserted or even betrayed him, fearing his restoration would censure their own treachery.read · scan
- p. 118–120Cicero reflects on the worth of men's fidelity, learned at painful cost. He notes friends' covert hatred and equivocal attachment, and his gratitude and affection toward benefactors Lentulus and Pompey.read · scan
Luke, The Gospel According to LukeVol. 44
- p. 408–409Foretells betrayal of the disciples by parents, brethren, kinsfolk and friends, showing the loss of friends' loyalty under persecution.read · scan
Plutarch, CiceroVol. 12
- p. 244In exile Cicero is failed by Vibius, whom he had befriended, and by Vergilius, once intimate; yet many offer him respect and escort: loyalty and desertion of friends in adversity.read · scan
Plutarch, AntonyVol. 12
- p. 334Antony expects Lepidus to stand his friend after past favors; Lepidus fails him, though Antony treats him with civility.read · scan
- p. 378–379Antony lacks friends as many deserted and others are distrusted; Alexas betrays his master, showing desertion and treachery among friends.read · scan
Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of EpictetusVol. 2
- p. 148Epictetus warns not to trust apparent friendship even of brothers or oath-bound companions; those who place interest in externals are faithless and cannot be friends.read · scan
Chapters from the KoranVol. 45
- p. 975–976Shows a lukewarm companion who, once fortune comes, speaks as though there were no friendship between them, envying the spoils: false friendship revealed by self-interest.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 174When the butcher is accused, his dearest friends turn on him and beat him, showing friends' disloyalty in adversity.read · scan
- p. 200–201Nur-ed-Din gathers companions and lavishes entertainments and gifts on them; the fellowship rests on his generosity, foreshadowing its collapse.read · scan
- p. 201–202Fair-weather companions desert Nur-ed-Din with false excuses once he is bankrupt, showing the betrayal and unreliability of friends who attach themselves to wealth.read · scan
- p. 202–203Ruined Nur-ed-Din is refused by all ten companions he had lavished wealth on; verses liken fair-weather friends to a tree abandoned once fruitless, lamenting lack of integrity.read · scan
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of ChristVol. 7
- p. 231Warns not to trust friends and kinsfolk to remember or help you after death; friends' loyalty is unreliable.read · scan
- p. 239Christ was left by acquaintances and friends in his need; wanting all men as friends is folly, and enduring adversity makes one Christ's friend.read · scan
- p. 333–334Says many friends cannot profit or help in distress without God; human friends are weak and unstable compared with God's help.read · scan
Traditional BalladsVol. 40
- p. 135–137The ruined knight says his friends deserted him when wealth was gone, and none will stand surety; false fair-weather friends contrasted with Robyn's generous help.read · scan
Niccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVol. 36
- p. 55Argues that friendships bought with money rather than earned by nobility of character fail in need; men's devotion is fickle and love is a breakable tie of obligation.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 248–249A servant friend brings Cellini food and news in prison, while former friend and patron Cardinal Farnese turns against him.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 7Cites Cato's distich on the instability of friends: many friends in prosperity, alone when times turn cloudy.read · scan
Edward Haies, Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyage to NewfoundlandVol. 33
- p. 268Gilbert's fellow adventurers break consort and fail their promises, leaving him with only a few assured friends; shows desertion and the test of loyalty.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, Preface to the History of the WorldVol. 39
- p. 94Worldly men flatter and forsake friends and kings alike, prosperous or unprosperous, showing disloyalty and fair-weather attachment.read · scan
William Shakespeare, Songs and SonnetsVol. 40
- p. 266–268Says most friendship is feigning; ingratitude and a friend forgotten wound more sharply than winter's cold.read · scan
Christopher Marlowe, Edward the SecondVol. 46
- p. 62–63Spencer notes that the queen's friends multiply while the king's fail, and Kent warns that Isabella and Mortimer's kisses hide conspiracy; false love and desertion in fortune's turn.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46
- p. 152Player King's maxim that friendship follows fortune: the favourite flees the fallen great man, and one who needs no friend never lacks one.read · scan
- p. 152A friend tried in want proves hollow and turns enemy, showing the fragility of fortune-based friendship.read · scan
Philip Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old DebtsVol. 47
- p. 872–873Allworth publicly disowns Wellborn as a stranger in his poverty, showing friendship's strain (later explained as pretense); Wellborn feels contempt.read · scan
- p. 908–910Overreach admits worldly men abandon sinking friends and kinsmen and press them down, then offers 'friendship' once Wellborn prospers; self-interested friendship exposed, Wellborn wryly skeptical.read · scan
Izaak Walton, The Life of Mr. George HerbertVol. 15
- p. 386Loss of powerful friends by death ends Herbert's court hopes; a court-friend gives counsel dissuading his ordination, which he rejects.read · scan
John Milton, Samson AgonistesVol. 4
- p. 415Samson says false friends are counterfeit coin: they swarm in prosperity and vanish in adversity; the Chorus arrives offering counsel and consolation.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 66Questions whether one who enjoyed the friendship of kings could expect to lack refuge, hinting at the unreliability of powerful friends.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 70–72Pliable's desertion of the pilgrimage brings his neighbors' scorn; Christian laments a would-be companion who turned back, and Faithful avoids him. Shows falling away and loss of a companion.read · scan
John Dryden, All for Love; or, The World Well LostVol. 18
- p. 26Ventidius asks whether those who revel while Antony is in danger can be his friends; laments Antony as the best of friends.read · scan
John Dryden, PoemsVol. 40
- p. 391–393Darius dies deserted in his need by those his bounty fed, 'with not a friend to close his eyes': betrayal and loss of friends in adversity.read · scan
Thomas Gray, PoemsVol. 40
- p. 449–451Adversity drives off the fair-weather 'summer Friend' and flatterer, who follow prosperity and vow truth to it; Charity is called the general friend.read · scan
- p. 462–463Closing moral of Selima's drowning: 'A favourite has no friend', since no one comes to help her in distress, implying the desertion of the fortunate.read · scan
Oliver Goldsmith, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 505Garrick faulted for casting off friends like a huntsman's pack, whistling them back at will; Hickey praised as one who cherished his friend.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, EgmontVol. 19
- p. 318Egmont addresses sleep as an old, faithful friend that forsakes him like his other friends, suggesting the loss of friends in adversity.read · scan
- p. 320Egmont, imprisoned, wonders whether his friends, Orange and the Regent's friendship, will rescue him; Clara laments that his friends hesitate and abandon him in peril.read · scan
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for ScandalVol. 18
- p. 124–125Charles is said to have lost all his friends through profligacy, yet he entertains friends lavishly; friendship's loss through ruin.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 35–37Fortune's desertion has bereft him of mistress, friends and wealth; he also praises a club of good fellows and the bottle as good company.read · scan
- p. 302–304Abandoned by father and friends who disown her, the speaker keeps one lover who takes her part; loyalty against friends' desertion.read · scan
- p. 370–371Whisky Jean notes that many a friend who kissed the old king's cup has become a stranger once his fortunes fell: fair-weather friends.read · scan
- p. 534–536Laments 'cold, alter'd friendship's cruel part' poisoning fortune's blows, a brief reference to friendship's loss or change in adversity.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 69–70Renzo laments fair-weather friends who pledged their lives in prosperity then draw back; Cristoforo answers that God is the friend of the afflicted and worldly friends cannot help.read · scan
- p. 274Renzo bitterly calls the crowd 'rascally friends' who turned on him after he helped Ferrer as a brother; shows disappointed loyalty and neighbourly duty.read · scan
- p. 413–414Neighbors crowd round with sympathy and offers of help; the narrator's proverb says those eager to help you appear only when you don't need them.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 344The spendthrift's fair-weather friends abandon him when he is poor; only one good-natured friend sends him a trunk, showing friendship failing with fortune.read · scan
- p. 351Fair-weather friends: the soldier gains many friends while rich, but none visit him once he is poor and in a garret, showing friendship's dependence on wealth.read · scan
- p. 352–353Fair-weather friends return and fuss over the soldier once he is rich again, confirming that their friendship follows his wealth.read · scan
John Greenleaf Whittier, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1349–1351Barclay says outlawed, he is happier with few friends; laments the hardship of the old friend's falling off, the loss of friends in adversity.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 309Observes that universal ruin in the earthquake meant no one could suspect his friends of coldness, which is the most grievous result of losing wealth; fortune tests friendship.read · scan
Robert Browning, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1082–1083Condemned man notes the loving friends and crowd who cheered him a year ago now jeer and stone him; fickle popular loyalty.read · scan
6b.Loyalty tested and proved in adversity
See also: Love 7b
Aeschylus, AgamemnonVol. 8
- p. 37–38Agamemnon distinguishes hollow professions of loyalty, mere ghosts of dead friendship, from Odysseus's true loyalty, a trusty trace-horse; also notes envy's corrosion of goodwill toward the fortunate.read · scan
Aeschylus, Prometheus BoundVol. 8
- p. 171–175The Chorus is wounded by Prometheus' woes and he pities his friends who witness them, showing sympathetic fellow-feeling in suffering.read · scan
- p. 204–205The Chorus refuses Hermes' urging to abandon Prometheus, choosing to share his fate and loathing betrayal, showing loyalty to a suffering friend.read · scan
Sophocles, Oedipus the KingVol. 8
- p. 246–248Blinded Oedipus thanks the Chorus as the one friend faithful and constant by him, not slighting the blind man in his ruin.read · scan
Sophocles, AntigoneVol. 8
- p. 255–259Ismene tells Antigone that despite her wildness her friends must still love her, affirming loyalty of affection even when disagreeing with a friend's course.read · scan
- p. 267–272Creon says a foe never becomes a friend even in death; Antigone spurns Ismene's late offer to share guilt, 'I do not love a friend who loves in words.' Loyalty tested.read · scan
Plato, The Apology of SocratesVol. 2
- p. 16Achilles scorns death to avenge his friend Patroclus, fearing dishonor more than dying; loyalty to a friend as a motive above life.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9
- p. 160–161Cicero excuses his silence, cites close union from mutual services and kindred tastes, and offers encouragement to a friend in exile, showing loyalty and counsel in adversity.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 305Nisus, having lost sight of Euryalus, turns back to find him and risks his life to free his captured friend, showing loyalty and concern.read · scan
- p. 406–412Turnus grieves for dying friend Murranus, who called his name to avenge him; Saces appeals to Turnus to pity his friends, showing loyalty and obligation in war.read · scan
Plutarch, ThemistoclesVol. 12
- p. 27Themistocles' friends secretly send his estate after him in exile, and his host Nicogenes shelters him, showing loyalty in adversity.read · scan
Plutarch, AlcibiadesVol. 12
- p. 136–138Fearful on returning from exile, Alcibiades will not land until he sees his cousin and friends waiting to welcome him, showing friends as assurance of safety.read · scan
Plutarch, AntonyVol. 12
- p. 373Antony generously shares his treasure with friends after defeat and comforts them; they refuse it tearfully, showing mutual loyalty and care in adversity.read · scan
- p. 375–376Lucilius stays faithful to Antony out of gratitude; Antony, embittered by ingratitude of supposed friends, withdraws like Timon, hating mankind: betrayal and loss of friends.read · scan
- p. 380Antony's friends weep at his farewell talk before battle, and he tells them he will not lead them to certain death; loyalty and shared fate.read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 239Pliny aided Artemidorus in adversity when other rich friends hesitated, and claims only not to have abandoned him. He loves Musonius and warns that a friend overrates friends' merits.read · scan
- p. 284The uncle embraces his frightened friend Pomponianus and feigns calm cheerfulness to soothe his fears, showing friendly comfort in danger.read · scan
- p. 288The Spanish friend urges flight out of loyalty to the uncle's wishes; Pliny and his mother refuse to leave until his safety is known, showing loyalty and concern for kin.read · scan
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus AureliusVol. 2
- p. 237Praises Antoninus's firmness and uniformity in his friendships as a model to imitate.read · scan
BeowulfVol. 49
- p. 79–80Wiglaf loyally helps his king despite burns, and an earl is praised for standing by his lord in danger, showing loyalty in a comrade.read · scan
Jean Froissart, The Chronicles of FroissartVol. 35
- p. 27–28Blind King of Bohemia calls his men companions and friends and asks them to lead him into battle; they tie their reins together and die loyally around him.read · scan
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of ChristVol. 7
- p. 308–309Laments that human faithfulness often fails; a friend who stays faithful through all his friend's distresses is rare, unlike God.read · scan
Traditional BalladsVol. 40
- p. 166–168Little John asks Robyn to kill him rather than be captured; Much and Robyn refuse to abandon him and carry him; Sir Richard shelters Robyn, loving him above all men.read · scan
Niccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVol. 36
- p. 34–35Nobles who bind themselves to a prince's fortunes deserve love and honour; those who hold back for ambition are hidden enemies. A prince needs the people's friendly footing.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 12Cellini's father is described as devoted servant and attached friend of the house of Medici, staying loyal to Piero in his banishment.read · scan
- p. 53Abandoned by his comrade in plague, Cellini is loyally stood by; Giovanni Rigogli vows never to leave his side until he recovers.read · scan
- p. 142Friends offer to fight beside Cellini; Albertaccio, loving him like himself, begs to share his risk, while Cellini refuses to endanger friends. Shows loyalty and its cost.read · scan
- p. 143–144After the killing, friends rally to Cellini: Piloto counsels and shelters him, Albertaccio embraces him, and young men offer their lives, showing loyalty in peril.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 160–161Sancho weeps and resolves not to abandon his master in danger, showing loyalty as a companion; the master is moved but hides it.read · scan
- p. 268–269Cardenio vows by his faith not to forsake Dorothea until her wrong is righted, setting aside his own injuries: loyalty and pledged aid to a companion in distress.read · scan
- p. 292Don Quixote imagines a knight's friend, carried by enchanters, appearing to rescue him from death: friends succouring one another in danger.read · scan
Edward Haies, Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyage to NewfoundlandVol. 33
- p. 294–295Gilbert's friends vainly entreat him not to sail in the frigate; he refuses to forsake the little company with whom he shared storms and perils, showing loyalty.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, The Discovery of GuianaVol. 33
- p. 301Raleigh acknowledges the constancy of his patrons' loves, which sought him out in adversity and did not fall away in misery; a debt of friendship he cannot repay.read · scan
Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor FaustusVol. 19
- p. 248Faustus bids his scholar friends flee lest they perish with him; they offer loyalty, staying and praying for him, and part in farewell.read · scan
Christopher Marlowe, Edward the SecondVol. 46
- p. 39–41Kent's defection is met with suspicion and pledged honour as trust; Edward and Gaveston part in flight, showing loyalty to a friend in danger.read · scan
- p. 65–66Fallen Edward turns to his faithful companions Spencer and Baldock ('you, my friends') and begs the monks not to betray him; loyalty in adversity.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King LearVol. 46
- p. 265–266Kent, loyal in Lear's ruin, offers shelter and says the hovel will lend 'some friendship' against the storm, showing faithful service after others' denial.read · scan
- p. 274–275Edgar reflects that suffering is lighter when grief has 'mates' and 'fellowship'; Gloucester and Kent also act loyally to save the king.read · scan
- p. 281Gloucester asks the old tenant to help 'for ancient love'; the old man loyally risks himself to aid his blind former lord.read · scan
- p. 299–300Cordelia declares she can never repay Kent's goodness; Kent's disguised loyal service asks only to be acknowledged, showing gratitude owed to a faithful follower.read · scan
- p. 315Kent, having followed Lear's sad steps in disguise, is identified as his friend; loyal service persists beyond Lear's recognition, and Albany promises friends the wages of virtue.read · scan
- p. 315Albany rewards loyal friends and calls Kent and Edgar 'friends of my soul'; Kent's devotion draws him to follow his master in death.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The TempestVol. 46
- p. 426–427Ariel warns Gonzalo of conspiracy on Prospero's behalf, calling him his friend; loyal Gonzalo protects the King while Antonio and Sebastian plot treachery.read · scan
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Philaster, or Love Lies A-BleedingVol. 47
- p. 700Philaster praises friends who remember and stand by a friend in misery and disgrace; their loyal offer of service is answered with gratitude and a claim of undeserved love.read · scan
- p. 726Bellario shows loyal devotion to Philaster, who wounded him, urging him to flee and covering for him at the cost of his own wounds; Philaster asks 'Art thou then true to me?'read · scan
- p. 727–731Philaster asks 'Have I no friend here?' and demands friends show it by helping; he embraces the wounded Bellario, prizing his loyalty above all wealth.read · scan
- p. 740–742Philaster answers the citizens' loyal protectiveness by declaring himself their friend as well as their prince; they offer fellowship and defense, and he answers with love and pardon.read · scan
Izaak Walton, The Life of Dr. John DonneVol. 15
- p. 326–327Ellesmere says he parts with a friend in dismissing Donne; Donne's chamber-fellow and pupil share his imprisonment for aiding the marriage, showing loyalty.read · scan
- p. 328Donne gives himself no rest until he has won release for his two imprisoned friends, showing loyal duty to friends in trouble.read · scan
Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Life Is a DreamVol. 26
- p. 7Rosaura offers to release her servant Fife, and Fife's tearful refusal shows loyal companionship. Mutual love and a pledge never to part show fidelity in hardship.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 159In the river Hopeful holds Christian's head above water, comforts him in despair and reminds him of God's goodness; Christian calls him good friend and brother.read · scan
John Dryden, All for Love; or, The World Well LostVol. 18
- p. 29Ventidius refuses to leave the angry Antony out of love; their shared tears show the contagion of friends' grief and loyal devotion.read · scan
- p. 46Antony calls Ventidius his best and only friend who gathered up the wreck of his fortunes, in contrast with Cleopatra.read · scan
- p. 77–81Antony asks Ventidius whether he is a true friend or has turned a Dolabella, testing a friend's loyalty and counsel.read · scan
- p. 90–93Ventidius proves loyal friendship by choosing to die beside Antony, sharing his fate; comrades fight side by side, love shown by fidelity in defeat.read · scan
- p. 94Ventidius chooses death rather than kill or betray his friend Antony; loyalty unto death, refusing to turn traitor, and a farewell naming Antony 'friend'.read · scan
- p. 100–103Charmion and Iras vow to follow their queen to death, showing loyalty of attendants; Cleopatra calls them friends and imagines Antony's friend cursing her.read · scan
Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34
- p. 76–77Natives cultivated friendship with peaceable Quakers; Penn remains loyal to King James who loved him despite the cost to his reputation.read · scan
John Woolman, The Journal of John WoolmanVol. 1
- p. 256–257Benjamin Parvin offers to accompany Woolman on a perilous journey; Woolman fears endangering a friend, speaks frankly, yet accepts his companionship as a comfort. Shows loyalty and its burdens.read · scan
Christopher Smart, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 486–488Praises David's constancy to his friend Jonathan, faithful even beyond death, as a mark of his enduring fame.read · scan
Edmund Burke, A Letter to a Noble LordVol. 24
- p. 416Burke recalls his devoted friendship with Lord Keppel: years without coldness or jealousy, zealous loyalty in his trial, mutual affection, and readiness to suffer enmity for a friend's sake.read · scan
William Cowper, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 539–541Shipmates abandon the sailor overboard to save themselves; he cannot blame them, yet feels bitter dying deserted with friends so near. Loyalty strained by necessity.read · scan
John Dunlop, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 581Toast to friends who can be trusted when adversity storms; may they stay nearest our hearts and not depart like the year.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 213–215Poet pledges loyalty to a patron even in reversed fortune: if we meet friendless and poor, 'my Friend and Brother'; friendship surviving poverty.read · scan
- p. 304–305Exiled prince mourns the ruin of his brave friends whose loyal faith in battle he cannot repay.read · scan
- p. 325–327Lament of abandonment: no friendly face lights his cot, yet humble neighbours who were once fed share his griefs, showing loyalty in adversity against neglect.read · scan
- p. 367–369The soldier youth offers no courtly gifts but an honest heart that would never desert his friend; loyalty as the qualification for trust.read · scan
Friedrich Schiller, William TellVol. 26
- p. 456–457Hedwig reproaches Baumgarten for failing Tell, who risked his all to save him: true friendship means active loyalty and sacrifice, not idle tears at a friend's distress.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, MannersVol. 5
- p. 211–212Epitaph praises a man who loved his friend and persuaded his enemy, offering loyalty to friends as a mark of true gentlemanly character.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 472Praises the English habit of friendship: loyal adhesion, stanch support from youth to age, chosen fraternity, contrasted with the superficial attachments and short-lived connections of other races.read · scan
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, MontaigneVol. 32
- p. 114Montaigne says one could fall safely in ruin only into the arms of a solid, vigorous, fortunate friendship, which is very rare; shows loss of La Boétie.read · scan
John Greenleaf Whittier, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1347–1349Old comrade rushes to defend Barclay with his sword, offering proven loyalty; Barclay declines, calling him ancient friend, showing loyalty tested in adversity.read · scan
Edgar Allan Poe, The Poetic PrincipleVol. 28
- p. 389–391Poem praising a loved one's loyalty: she did not deceive, forsake, slander or flee in adversity; such constancy consoles against the world's hostility.read · scan
Robert Browning, A Blot in the 'ScutcheonVol. 18
- p. 386–388Guendolen argues true friendship stands by the fallen in disgrace, not just in prosperity; she and Austin refuse to abandon Mildred. Outcasts' loyalty to comrades is also cited.read · scan
- p. 388Guendolen and Austin stay loyally beside disgraced Mildred, offering help; friendship involves confidence, counsel and serving another's will, though Guendolen pries out the secret.read · scan
William Morris, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1190–1192Guenevere appeals to Launcelot as "good friend, so dear to me" and cites his faithful coming when summoned, invoking companionship and loyalty in her defence.read · scan
6c.Friendlessness as the depth of misery
Aeschylus, AgamemnonVol. 8
- p. 64–65Chorus says Clytemnestra will meet her end without a friend; she prizes Aegisthus as loyal and true against her faithless husband.read · scan
The Book of JobVol. 44
- p. 99–100Job laments abandonment by kinsfolk and familiar friends who forget him and turn against him, and begs his friends for pity instead of persecution.read · scan
The Book of PsalmsVol. 44
- p. 252–253Lament that God has put lover, friend and acquaintance far from the sufferer, showing loss and isolation of friends as part of affliction.read · scan
Sophocles, AntigoneVol. 8
- p. 276–281Antigone, going to her tomb, laments that she has no friends to weep for her.read · scan
- p. 281–284Antigone laments dying unwept, friendless, with no friend to bewail her or give aid; abandonment by friends deepens her isolation.read · scan
Euripides, HippolytusVol. 8
- p. 350–351Banished Hippolytus asks to what friend's door he can turn, showing how false accusation strips a man of friends' refuge.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 117Aeneas, alone amid the ruin, feels desertion by his friends at his need; he also wants to appease the murmuring shades of his friends by avenging them.read · scan
- p. 167Dido curses Aeneas to see his friends slain in battle, treating loss of friends as grievous punishment.read · scan
Plutarch, DemosthenesVol. 12
- p. 211–212Demosthenes in exile laments that in Athens he leaves enemies where elsewhere friends are hard to find; adversaries' kindly offering of money shows friendship's absence and loss.read · scan
Chapters from the KoranVol. 45
- p. 891–892The damned man finds no warm friend in hell; the loss of friends is part of his punishment.read · scan
- p. 904–905The damned in hell quarrel and find no intercessors and no warm friend; false companions who led them astray cannot help.read · scan
- p. 931–932On the day of judgment the wrongdoers will have no warm friend and no intercessor; friendship offers no protection then.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 64–65The porter appeals to the friendship that subsisted between them to plead for mercy, invoking loyalty against punishment.read · scan
- p. 227–228Condemned Nur-ed-Din cries out asking whether any merciful friend will aid him, revealing the isolation of the friendless at the hour of death.read · scan
- p. 302Verse laments that in death the miser's troops and friends could not aid him; friends fail at the grave, showing the limits of worldly companionship.read · scan
Niccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVol. 36
- p. 12–13Louis of France, friendless in Italy, took what friendships he could, then lost his allies by failing to protect them and by strengthening the Pope.read · scan
- p. 14Louis stripped himself of friends by aggrandizing the Church and dividing Naples with Spain, a strategic blunder in handling allies.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 250–252Prison verse lists finding no friend to hear one's moan and never a friendly word among the deprivations of abandonment.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 352Anselmo, robbed of wife, servants and friend Lothario, feels utterly abandoned; loss of the friend deepens his ruin.read · scan
Christopher Marlowe, Edward the SecondVol. 46
- p. 56–57Isabella laments that friends fail her in France and Prince Edward scorns his uncle's friendship; Kent calls Edward a butcher of his friends. Friendship's failure in adversity.read · scan
- p. 57–59Queen laments being friendless in France; Mortimer assures her of friends in England and Sir John offers friends and aid. Friends as support in distress and loyalty.read · scan
- p. 66Edward, parted by force from Spencer and Baldock, laments that they are his only friends and must die; shows grief at loss of loyal friends.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of MacbethVol. 46
- p. 384–385Macbeth laments that in old age he cannot expect honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, only mouth-honour; friendlessness as the cost of tyranny.read · scan
John Milton, Samson AgonistesVol. 4
- p. 415Samson ironically calls his deadliest foe his speediest friend, since death would free him; the Chorus fears Harapha's malicious counsel.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 176–177Jesus seeks comfort in his three dearest friends, who sleep indifferent; abandoned by friends in his agony.read · scan
- p. 177Jesus seeks companionship, is deserted by sleeping friends, yet tenderly cautions them for their own good despite their ingratitude.read · scan
- p. 274Jesus's friends and relatives despised him, one disciple betrayed him, another denied him, all abandoned him.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 116–117Imprisoned in Doubting Castle, far from friends and acquaintance with none to ask how they fare; Christian's added sorrow at having led his companion astray.read · scan
John Dryden, All for Love; or, The World Well LostVol. 18
- p. 7–11Laments that high office robs the Lord Treasurer of privacy and friends, showing friendship as a cost of public station.read · scan
- p. 94Antony, believing Cleopatra false, laments his life as a dream of love and friendship and calls her ungrateful, a swallow fleeing his winter.read · scan
Jean Racine, PhaedraVol. 26
- p. 177–180Hippolytus asks what friends will pity him once his father forsakes him; Theseus retorts that he should seek friends who honour adultery and incest.read · scan
Oliver Goldsmith, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 509The ruined girl, lost to all, has her friends fled; abandonment of friends accompanies her fall.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 37–38Lists being forsaken by friends among Fortune's blows, and the want of anyone to befriend him, as the speaker's hardships.read · scan
- p. 280–283Defeated exile laments a world without a friend, showing friendlessness as the deepest ruin of misfortune.read · scan
- p. 482–484Dying unwept and removed from friendship and affection is held the worst fate; friendless death contrasted with being loved.read · scan
Friedrich Schiller, William TellVol. 26
- p. 457–458Hedwig laments that no friend's consoling voice can reach Tell in prison, and that with Tell free the oppressed had a friend and stay.read · scan
William Wordsworth, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 645–647A forsaken mother, awaiting her absent son, laments that she has 'no other earthly friend' and that others pity her but not her grief.read · scan
- p. 647–649Old Simon Lee, bereft of health, strength, friends and kindred, is left alone in poverty; his gratitude for a small kindness contrasts with the coldness of others.read · scan
- p. 655–656Toussaint imprisoned is told his 'friends' are exultations, agonies, love and man's unconquerable mind; consolation when human friends are absent.read · scan
Percy Bysshe Shelley, The CenciVol. 18
- p. 285–288Beatrice calls Orsino her only friend, bickering with him in her desolation; Orsino privately plans to exploit her friendlessness, betraying the trust of friendship.read · scan
- p. 291–294Lucretia, abandoned by the noble guests, says they have no friend but God; shows loss of human friends and refuge.read · scan
Percy Bysshe Shelley, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 835–836Asks whether a wanderer without friends to greet him can find refuge in friendship's smile; friendlessness and lack of any mourner as the depth of misery.read · scan
Helen Selina, Lady Dufferin, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 919–920The poor make no new friends but love the few God sends more dearly; the loss of a faithful companion leaves loneliness.read · scan
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1285–1286The flag seen by a lonely, friendless wanderer abroad is like a friendly hand from home, easing the loss of friends.read · scan
- p. 1318Exiled Acadians, friendless and scattered, seek friends and homes; some ask only a grave rather than a friend or fireside, showing loss of friends in exile.read · scan
Giuseppe Mazzini, Byron and GoetheVol. 32
- p. 393Byron's friendlessness in exile and his fidelity to childhood affections and generosity to literary friends show loyalty and loss of friends, though the passage is chiefly about Byron's character.read · scan
William Makepeace Thackeray, Jonathan SwiftVol. 28
- p. 27Swift shrank from all affections, abandoned his fastest friend Sheridan and fondest admirer Pope, and died lonely; shows loss of friends through his own withdrawal.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 104–105Pathos of an Englishman who died and was buried far from home 'without a friend near him', unattended and hurried into the ground; friendlessness shown as the worst part of his death.read · scan
- p. 265Dana pities friendless English Ben; the crew resents that the poor boy without friends or influence is sacrificed while Dana's friends protect him.read · scan
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