Nothing brings more joy to the mind than true, warm friendship. What a gift it is to have someone whose heart is open to all your secrets — someone you can trust completely. You fear their judgment less than your own conscience. Their conversation eases your worries. Their advice helps your plans. Their cheerfulness lifts your spirits. Just seeing them makes you happy.
Yet nothing delights the mind so much as faithful and pleasant friendship: what a blessing it is when there is one whose breast is ready to receive all your secrets with safety, whose knowledge of your actions you fear less than your own conscience, whose conversation removes your anxieties, whose advice assists your plans, whose cheerfulness dispels your gloom, whose very sight delights you!