Just as respect without friendliness is not true respect, so friendliness without respect is not solid but will sometimes engender familiarities that are scarcely proper and will render that friendliness thin and changeable, which will not happen if friendliness is joined to respect and respect to friendliness.
Friendliness then is a virtue by which you bear witness to the love you have for everyone. Respect bears witness to the esteem in which you hold the person you respect. Friendliness comes from the heart, respect from the understanding. [p. 95]
(St Vincent de Paul. From Jacques Delarue, The Holiness of Vincent de Paul, Geoffrey Chapman Ltd, London 1960, 132 pp)
Topics: familiarity, friendliness, friendship, respect