Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Friendship does not help us survive physically, but it makes life worth living.
In plain terms
Friendship isn't needed to stay alive, but it gives life meaning.
What can you take from it?
Value relationships even if they don't serve a practical purpose.

Where it applies

  • reflecting on relationships
  • valuing leisure
  • seeking fulfillment

Putting it to work

  • prioritize close bonds
  • celebrate non-utilitarian joys

Questions to consider

  • What makes life valuable beyond staying alive?
  • How do you measure a friendship's worth?

Another view

It downifies friendship while ignoring its social survival benefits.

More from C. S. Lewis

  1. Need-love cries to God from our poverty; Gift-love longs to serve, or even to suffer for, God; Appreciative love says: 'We give thanks to thee for thy great gl…

    Permalink to quote #164
  2. Friendship arises out of mere companionship when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest or even taste which t…

    Permalink to quote #166
  3. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact…

    Permalink to quote #163

Related quotes

  1. You survived not to live on your time is short, you have to give a proof of truth

    Zbigniew HerbertZbigniew Herbert quote #5
  2. Death is always and under all circumstances a tragedy, for if it is not, then it means that life itself has become one.

    Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt quote #7
  3. One hour of right-down love is worth an age of dully living on.

    Aphra BehnAphra Behn quote #7