Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence?true friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo & withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.
" Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence—true friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo & withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation. "
From George Washington to Bushrod Washington | Wednesday, January 15, 1783
Editorial Notes
George Washington came from a large family and often found himself giving advice to his many nieces and nephews. Here, in the last year of the Revolution, he imparts some wisdom on the subject of friendship to nephew Bushrod Washington, who was then studying law in Philadelphia. Bushrod, a particular favorite, would eventually serve as a justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and inherited Mount Vernon, following the deaths of George and Martha Washington.
George Washington to Bushrod Washington | Wednesday, January 15, 1783
