"The sullen workman who is afraid of being imposed upon is secretly convinced of his own inferiority — when he has to say, or think, "I'm as good as any man," he doesn't quite believe it himself."

Take away grievances from some people and you remove their reasons for living; most of us are nourished by hope, but a considerable minority get psychic nutrition from their resentments, and would waste away purposelessly without them.

And that is the beautiful thing about friendship: we can take liberties, we can show our frailer side, we can afford the vast luxury of giving way to our boredom when we are bored, our anger when we are angry, our peckishness when we feel downhearted.