What does this quote mean?

“By love serve one another.”

The line places human flourishing inside mutual care: strength, resources, attention, or opportunity become responsibilities toward other people.

Source note: Galatians 5:13 in the King James Version.

“Good men are mutually helpful.”

Moral development is not purely solitary; people can strengthen one another through counsel, example, correction, and shared practice.

Source note: Letter 109 considers whether one wise person can benefit another and answers that good people are mutually useful.

“There is joy in self-forgetfulness.”

Joy can grow when attention moves away from constant self-concern and becomes absorbed in people, work, ideas, or experiences beyond oneself.

Source note: The Story of My Life; Keller links happiness with moments when self-consciousness recedes.

“To err is human; to forgive, divine.”

Error is treated as ordinary human limitation, while forgiveness requires an additional act of generosity.

Source note: An Essay on Criticism, Part II; Pope warns that shallow learning can produce premature confidence before deeper study tempers judgment.

“Charity suffereth long, and is kind.”

Love is defined partly through patience and kindness, shifting the idea from emotion alone toward repeated behavior under strain.

Source note: 1 Corinthians 13:4 in the King James Version; this is the opening clause of the verse.

“The quality of mercy is not strained.”

Portia begins by arguing that real mercy cannot be forced; its moral value comes from being freely given rather than mechanically compelled.

Source note: The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1; opening of Portia’s mercy speech during the trial.