Friendship is a disinterested commerce between equals; love, an abject intercourse between tyrants and slaves.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Friendship is equal and selfless, while love can become a controlling dynamic.
- In plain terms
- Friends treat each other as equals, but lovers sometimes act like rulers and servants.
- What can you take from it?
- True friendship is equal; love can become unequal.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What makes a relationship equal?
- Can love exist without power?
Another view
Love can also be deeply equal and freeing.
More from Oliver Goldsmith
All his faults are such that one loves him still the better for them.
Permalink to quote #46 Silence gives consent.
Permalink to quote #48 He calls his extravagance, generosity; and his trusting everybody, universal benevolence.
Permalink to quote #45
Related quotes
Love is like the wild rose-briar; Friendship like the holly-tree. The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms, But which will bloom most constantly?
Emily BronteEmily Bronte quote #12 'How did our friendship grow into love? Well, I've known Shahrukh for 15 years now. I've been married to him for the last nine years. It all seems like a dream…
Shahrukh KhanShahrukh Khan quote #33 I wish they would only take me as I am.
Vincent Willem Van GoghVincent Willem Van Gogh quote #48