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Alas! they had been friends in youth; But whispering tongues can poison truth;
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“Alas! they had been friends in youth; But whispering tongues can poison truth;”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Source
Christabel
Date
1816
Meaning

Meaning of “Alas! they had been friends in youth; But…”

Coleridge summarizes how rumor and hostile speech can turn an old friendship into estrangement even when the original bond was genuine.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Christabel, Part II, reviewed against the scan-backed 1816 first-edition transcription on Wikisource. The narrator's 'friends in youth / whispering tongues' stanza explains the broken friendship of Sir Leoline and Lord Roland; the passage is Romantic narrative poetry about estrangement, not empirical relationship research.

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Themes

Ideas connected with this quotation

FriendshipRelationshipShortThought-Provoking Quotes That Invite ReflectionTrustTruthFake Friends And Fake People
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Source identified
Before him, I may think aloud.
Image design Midnight
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“Before him, I may think aloud.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Essays, First Series — Friendship · 1841
Meaning & context

The line describes the relief of a friendship in which thought can be expressed openly before it is polished for public judgment.

Source details

Essays: First Series, “Friendship” (1841), verified against Project Gutenberg #2944 and the 1907 Merrill/Turpin page witness in Project Gutenberg #16643, printed page 126. “Before him, I may think aloud” immediately continues Emerson’s definition of sincerity in friendship and belongs to the same Truth passage as the preceding catalog record.

Source identified
A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere.
Image design Golden Hour
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“A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Essays, First Series — Friendship · 1841
Meaning & context

Friendship permits unusual honesty because the relationship is secure enough to hold unguarded thought without constant performance.

Source details

Essays: First Series, “Friendship” (1841), verified against Project Gutenberg #2944 and the 1907 Merrill/Turpin page witness in Project Gutenberg #16643, printed page 126. Emerson names Truth as one of friendship’s two sovereign elements and says “A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere.” This collection preserves the essay’s idealizing moral argument rather than treating unrestricted disclosure as universally safe or appropriate.

Source identified
Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure.
Image design Coastal
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“Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure.”

Jane Austen · Emma · 1815
Voice: Narrator voice · Narrator
Meaning & context

Austen observes that even sincere accounts can contain omission, disguise, or misunderstanding, which makes careful listening and humility important in judging what people say.

Source details

Emma, Volume III, Chapter XIII, scan-backed 1816 John Murray first edition on Wikisource. The narrator observes that complete truth seldom belongs to any human disclosure while explaining that even the Emma–Knightley understanding contains mistaken conduct alongside genuine feeling.