"If a friend fails because he is not a true friend, can we blame him, his character, his weakness? What is the value of a friendship where we love virtues, loyalty, and perseverance in the other? What is the value of all kinds of love that want a reward? Is it not our duty to accept the unfaithful friend just as we accept the self-sacrificing and faithful one? Isn't this the true content of all human relationships, this altruism, which wants and expects nothing from the other person? And the more you give, the less you expect in return? And if you give all the trust of a youth, all the sacrifices of a manhood, and finally give the other person the most that a person can give to a person, blind, unconditional, passionate trust, and then you have to see that the other person is unfaithful and mean, you have- e right to be offended, to demand revenge? And if he is offended, if he cries out for revenge, was he a friend, the one who betrayed and abandoned him?
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Author
Márai SándorAll Translations
All Translations
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If a friend fails because he is not a true friend, can we blame him, his character, his weakness? What is the value of a friendship where we love virtues, loyalty, and perseverance in the other? What is the value of all kinds of love that want a reward? Is it not our duty to accept the unfaithful friend just as we accept the self-sacrificing and faithful one? Isn't this the true content of all human relationships, this altruism, which wants and expects nothing from the other person? And the more you give, the less you expect in return? And if you give all the trust of a youth, all the sacrifices of a manhood, and finally give the other person the most that a person can give to a person, blind, unconditional, passionate trust, and then you have to see that the other person is unfaithful and mean, you have- e right to be offended, to demand revenge? And if he is offended, if he cries out for revenge, was he a friend, the one who betrayed and abandoned him?
""Ha egy barát megbukik, mert nem igazi barát, vádolhatjuk-e őt, jellemét, gyengeségét? Mit ér az olyan barátság, ahol erényeket, hűséget, kitartást szeretünk a másikban? Mit ér mindenféle szeretet, amely jutalmat akar? Nem kötelességünk-e, hogy éppen úgy vállaljuk a hűtlen barátot, mint az önfeláldozót és hűségeset? Nem ez igazi tartalma minden emberi kapcsolatnak, ez az önzetlenség, mely semmit, de semmit nem akar és nem vár a másiktól? S mentől többet ad, annál kevésbé vár viszonzást? S ha odaadja egy ifjúkor minden bizalmát, egy férfikor minden áldozatkészségét, s végül megajándékozza a másikat a legtöbbel, amit ember adhat embernek, a vak, a föltétlen, a szenvedélyes bizalommal, s aztán látnia kell, hogy a másik hűtlen és aljas, van-e joga megsértődni, bosszút követelni? S ha megsértődik, ha bosszúért kiált, barát volt-e ő, a megcsalt és elhagyott?"