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Source identified
“It is a mere and miserable solitude to want true friends, without which the world is but a wilderness.”

Francis Bacon

Source
Of Friendship
Date
1625
Attribution
Source identified
Meaning

What does this quote mean?

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.

Source context

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.

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Attribution

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