by Filippo Palizzi (1818–1899)
A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.
― Elbert Hubbard
When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.
― Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life
[1] Original image from Wikimedia
[2] The Real Victorian's enhanced version of the painting (seen above),
downloadable as a 25" x 18" @ 300 ppi JPEG
Digitally enhanced reproductions of public domain paintings are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.