What does this quote mean?

“Nay, rather they are men.”

The short correction rejects reducing people to social roles and insists on recognizing the person before the status assigned to them.

Source note: Letter 47 repeatedly answers social labels by emphasizing the common humanity of enslaved people.

“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.”

The advice combines generosity with judgment: goodwill can be broad while trust remains selective.

Source note: All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 1, Scene 1; the Countess gives Bertram compact advice about conduct before he leaves.

“A true friend is, as it were, another self.”

The phrase captures the intimacy of friendship: another person becomes close enough that concern for them resembles concern for oneself.

Source note: Cicero’s De Amicitia describes true friendship as transferring natural self-love into a bond with another person.

“Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not.”

Longstanding relationships carry accumulated trust and should not be discarded casually when circumstances change.

Source note: Proverbs 27:10 in the King James Version; opening command of the verse.

“Firm, steadfast, self-consistent men are to be chosen as friends.”

Reliable friendship depends on reliable character; steadiness matters because trust cannot grow when conduct constantly changes with advantage.

Source note: De Amicitia advises choosing friends whose character is firm and consistent.

“Adversity shows whether we have friends, or only the shadows of friends.”

Difficulty tests whether a relationship has substance because support under pressure reveals more than companionship during easy circumstances.

Source note: The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, saying 35, D. Lyman Jr. translation (1856).