Ambrose Bierce: Money & Love
on Thursday, March 3, 2011Funny Money Quotes: Are you willing to ask the most personal of favors – borrowing – from good friends and family or would your prefer a cranky banker? Ambrose Bierce said:
“Acquaintance, n.: A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to” — Ambrose Bierce
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In this quote, Ambrose Bierce is once again satirizing how some view acquaintances and relationships. By describing an acquaintance as someone you know well enough “to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to”, Bierce suggests that for some people, acquaintances are useful primarily based on how they can benefit financially from the relationship rather than genuine friendship.
The quote implies that certain acquaintances are seen as people you can ask favors of, like borrowing money, but not people close enough to trust with lending you money in return.
So Ambrose Bierce is criticizing a transactional view of acquaintances where the relationship status depends on opportunities for personal gain rather than mutual care, trust or respect between both parties. He portrays acquaintances for these types of people as defined by self-interest over true friendship.
Birthday: June 24, 1842 – Disappeared: c. 1914