A friend, a true one of course, can be an effective prevention against misfortune. In this regard, you have to choose your friends carefully. It is not a question of how many friends you are acquainted with, but of how many worthy friends you have; because the latter, even if they’re sometimes rare to find, is better than hundreds of unreliable ones.
In reading books, we deeply engross ourselves in finding the true meaning of each phrase or passage, and we try hard to read between the lines and analyze what the essence of the book’s very existence is. The same principle must be applied in studying people to eliminate the biggest and most common mistake that we can ever commit – making the wrong character judgment.
Develop a sound judgment. Don’t be trapped by crafty words or insincere compliments. The friends you keep can influence your behavior, so use both your intellect and instinct in all your decisions.
Remember to keep the old friends that have been loyal and faithful through the ups and downs of your life. It is very easy to gain acquaintances in everyday living, but keeping and maintaining the same level of excitement in fostering a deeper relationship is a challenge to anyone.
How do you make a proper evaluation?
In your deepest thoughts, you can raise this issue in thinking about your acquaintances:
“Can your friends-to-be make life in a miserable and desolated island worth
living?”
If your answer is a confident “yes,” then you have made the right choice in choosing them.
Look within a person’s depth. Make sure that he is someone whose character is unquestionable, as you perceive a “real friend” to be.
Our world is full of deceit, so use not only your eyes but also your heart in seeking for the good ones.
There are just a few people in the entire humanity that we dare trust our lives with. Be clever enough to trust your honor and love to someone who is confident enough to trust his honor and love to you.
Friends can make or break you. Why choose someone who will just bring you disappointments in the end? As my Mom would always tell me, “we cannot choose our relatives but we can always choose our friends.”
