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Quote by Alexander Nehamas

“It is clear that friendship is by and large crucial to human life. And I believe, in contrast with most of the philosophical tradition deriving from Aristotle, that it is not limited to a very few perfect individuals.”

Quote by Alexander Nehamas

Author

Alexander Nehamas

Alexander Nehamas, born on March 22, 1946, is a renowned philosopher and scholar, known for his contributions to aesthetics and ethics. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University and taught there for many years. His work, 'The Experience of Beauty,' has had a profound impact on aesthetic theory. Nehamas is recognized for his academic achievements, both within the academic community and in the broader public culture. more

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“To find something beautiful is to hope that your life will be better if that is a part of it. Unfortunately, the promise of a better life that beauty makes and the hope that it will be fulfilled are not always realized: beauty, like friendship, is also double-edged.”

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“My view is that friendship permeates human life and is involved in almost everything we think, feel, and do. For that very reason, there is no behavior that is characteristic of friendship. Two people can engage in the very same behavior - visiting someone in hospital, for example - and yet only one of them might be doing so out of friendship; moreover, friends can be doing absolutely anything together, even quarrel or fight. That means that it is difficult, if not impossible, to recognize a friendship simply on the basis of what people do.”

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“My own view is that friendship is essential to our becoming who we are. It provides a context within which we can, more or less safely, try different ways of being, different approaches to life, and our friends, to whom we open ourselves and by whom we are willing to be influenced and directed, play a central role in what becomes of us.”

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“In contrast to the values of morality, which depend on and encourage our similarities to each other, values like friendship or beauty depend on and encourage our differences. Ultimately, friendship is essential to our fashioning ourselves in ways that don't simply repeat the fashions of our surroundings: it is a mechanism of individuality.”

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“To emphasize the importance of beauty is to connect art again to emotion and desire. To find something or someone beautiful is not simply to appreciate what you now see or know about them. It also involves the desire to get to know them better, in the hope that what you will discover will, in some way that you can't know at the time, make your life better, just as your relationship with it so far has also made it better.”

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“Beauty can be as dangerous as evil can be beautiful. But that is just another aspect of the double edge of non-moral values. Both beauty and friends can be dangerous. If you want to avoid them on these grounds, be my guest. But I wonder what your life will then be like.”

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“I would hope I would inspire kids everywhere to know that you can do anything you put your mind to.”

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“We're living in a world where conservatism is on the rise - from America to Europe and in Singapore, too. People are finding it hard to accept the 'other': those who are different, or who don't conform to societal expectations or norms.”

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“The most important thing is to find your own path - to be true to yourself. I'm a happily married gay man, but I don't advocate marriage for everybody. Different strokes for different folks.”

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“There are still so many risks to coming out in a conservative society, and I don't think suggesting one way of doing things will work for everybody. I do believe, however, that you can only be happy if you are true to yourself. So taking that first step - of coming out to yourself - that's something I hope every young LGBT person can feel safe doing.”

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