Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
| NUMBER: | 682 |
| AUTHOR: | Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) |
| QUOTATION: | For no one, in our long decline, So dusty, spiteful and divided, Had quite such pleasant friends as mine, Or loved them half as much as I did.[stanza 3] The library was most inviting: The books upon the crowded shelves Were mainly of our private writing: We kept a school and taught ourselves.[stanza 15] From quiet homes and first beginning, Out to the undiscovered ends, There’s nothing worth the wear of winning, But laughter and the love of friends.[stanza 22] You do retain the song we set, And how it rises, trips and scans? You keep the sacred memory yet, Republicans? Republicans?[stanza 36] |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Republicans was the name of the friends’ club |
| SUBJECTS: | Friendship |