Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“It is a mere and miserable solitude to want true friends, without which the world is but a wilderness.”
- Source
- Of Friendship
- Date
- 1625
Meaning of “It is a mere and miserable solitude to…”
Bacon distinguishes physical company from genuine companionship: crowds and acquaintances cannot replace the kind of trusted relationship that makes social life feel inhabited rather than empty.
Where does it come from?
Essays, “Of Friendship,” Project Gutenberg #56463. Bacon follows his contrast between crowds and real company by describing the absence of true friends as a deeper form of solitude.
