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About this quote

What does it mean?
Friendship is fragile and fades before one notices it is gone.
In plain terms
Friendships disappear slowly before you realize they are over.
What can you take from it?
Cherish friendships while they last.

Where it applies

  • long-term relationships
  • social networks
  • personal loss

Putting it to work

  • maintain old friendships
  • notice gradual changes

Questions to consider

  • When did a friendship end without you noticing?
  • How do you preserve friendships?

Another view

Some friendships are resilient and endure for decades.

More from Gertrude Stein

  1. Communists are people who fancied that they had an unhappy childhood.

    Permalink to quote #17

  2. All of you young people who served in the war. You are a lost generation... You have no respect for anything. You drink yourselves to death.

    Permalink to quote #19

  3. It is always a mistake to be plain-spoken.

    Permalink to quote #16

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