Time & Perspective Quote by Robert Brault

Brault’s line flatters our inner romantic about friendship, then slips in a quiet indictment of how modern life turns care into scheduling. The first clause sounds like the grown-up ideal: a friend “finds time,” meaning they’re busy, responsible, and still make room for you. Then the sentence pivots. The friend he “cherish[es]” doesn’t even “consult his calendar” - not because he’s reckless, but because the relationship is treated as prior to the machinery of obligation. It’s a tiny act of rebellion: affection that doesn’t ask permission from productivity culture.

The subtext is that calendars aren’t neutral. They’re moral documents, encoding what we claim matters. Consulting one before saying yes can be a form of respect, but it can also be a way of keeping people at arm’s length: you get slotted, not welcomed. Brault is naming the difference between managed intimacy and instinctive loyalty.

There’s also a risk baked into the sentiment, which is why it lands: it dares you to want something impractical. The “no calendar” friend is the one who will pick up, show up, improvise - who treats your need as an event worthy of rearranging the day. In a culture of overcommitment, that kind of responsiveness reads as lavish.

Contextually, it’s an aphorism shaped for late-20th-century busyness: a world where friendship competes with work, family, and the tyranny of the appointment. Brault isn’t arguing against structure; he’s arguing that real closeness sometimes ignores it.