Six types of friends

Post 112 Choose your friends wisely

Confucius said, “There are three types of good friends, and there are also three types of harmful friends. To make friends with honest people, to make friends with trustworthy people, and to make friends with widely read and experienced people, is beneficial. To make friends with flatterers, to make friends with duplicitous people, and to make friends with rhetoric people, is harmful.”

As birds of the same feather flock together, you are judged by the friends around you. When you have good friends who have virtues, you learn to have good characters from them. Keep these friends. Similarly, when you have harmful friends who are unscrupulous, your character is in danger of being tainted. Shun them.

“A friend in need is a friend indeed” is an old popular proverb. It means a friend who comes to our help is a true friend, unlike others who disappear when their help is needed. This proverb is sometimes interpreted as “a needy person becomes a friend to get assistance from others”. It is in times of trouble that one’s true feelings are revealed. Nevertheless, it is a fact that true friends are hard to come by. They are far and few in between. Treasure them if you are blessed with some.

You may want to ponder over this quotation: There are three faithful friends - an old wife, an old dog and ready money. – (Benjamin Franklin)

4 October 2011