"Every single instance of a friend's insincerity increases our dependence on the efficacy of money"
About this Quote
Shenstone lands a bleak little theorem: friendship is supposed to be the soft infrastructure of life, and when it fails, we reach for something harder, colder, and enforceable. The line works because it treats betrayal not as an isolated heartbreak but as a cumulative economic event. One fake compliment, one missing favor, one smile with an agenda, and the private world quietly recalculates its risk. Trust gets downgraded; cash becomes the collateral.
The key move is in “every single instance.” He’s not describing a dramatic rupture, the operatic end of a friendship. He’s talking about the drip-drip of minor bad faith that teaches you, over time, that sentiment is an unreliable currency. “Efficacy of money” is a sly phrase: money doesn’t have to be virtuous, just effective. It doesn’t need to mean it; it just needs to clear. In that sense, Shenstone isn’t praising greed so much as diagnosing why societies slide toward transactionalism. When people disappoint, markets look like sanity.
Context matters. Shenstone writes in an 18th-century Britain where commerce is rising, social mobility is newly imaginable, and “politeness” can be both etiquette and performance. Insincerity isn’t merely personal; it’s structural, baked into a world where status depends on appearing agreeable to the right people. His subtext: once friendship becomes a stage, money starts to feel like the only honest actor. That’s the sting - not that money is noble, but that hypocrisy makes it seem dependable.
The key move is in “every single instance.” He’s not describing a dramatic rupture, the operatic end of a friendship. He’s talking about the drip-drip of minor bad faith that teaches you, over time, that sentiment is an unreliable currency. “Efficacy of money” is a sly phrase: money doesn’t have to be virtuous, just effective. It doesn’t need to mean it; it just needs to clear. In that sense, Shenstone isn’t praising greed so much as diagnosing why societies slide toward transactionalism. When people disappoint, markets look like sanity.
Context matters. Shenstone writes in an 18th-century Britain where commerce is rising, social mobility is newly imaginable, and “politeness” can be both etiquette and performance. Insincerity isn’t merely personal; it’s structural, baked into a world where status depends on appearing agreeable to the right people. His subtext: once friendship becomes a stage, money starts to feel like the only honest actor. That’s the sting - not that money is noble, but that hypocrisy makes it seem dependable.
Quote Details
| Topic | Fake Friends |
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