"So long as we are loved by others I should say that we are almost indispensable; and no man is useless while he has a friend"
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Stevenson frames usefulness not as productivity but as attachment, a quietly radical move in an era that was busy measuring men by empire, industry, and moral muscle. “Almost indispensable” is the sly hinge: he doesn’t claim love makes you objectively necessary, only that it makes you functionally irreplaceable in the small economy of someone else’s life. Indispensability, here, isn’t earned through achievement; it’s granted through relationship. That “almost” keeps the sentiment from turning preachy, admitting the fragility of human bonds while still arguing that they beat the cold calculus of utility.
The line also carries a double edge. “Loved by others” is passive; it suggests our value is partly at the mercy of forces we can’t control. Stevenson, who lived with chronic illness and spent years moving for his health, knew what it meant to feel like a burden, to fear becoming dead weight. The subtext reads like self-defense against that fear: even when your body fails, even when your output drops to zero, friendship can still certify your place in the world.
The second clause tightens into a moral argument: “no man is useless while he has a friend.” It’s less Hallmark than social theory. Friendship becomes an antidote to isolation’s brutal story that you are surplus. Stevenson’s intent is to relocate dignity from the marketplace to the circle of care, insisting that being needed isn’t the same as being exploited. In a culture that loves to equate worth with measurable impact, he offers a softer, stubborn metric: if someone would miss you, you matter.
The line also carries a double edge. “Loved by others” is passive; it suggests our value is partly at the mercy of forces we can’t control. Stevenson, who lived with chronic illness and spent years moving for his health, knew what it meant to feel like a burden, to fear becoming dead weight. The subtext reads like self-defense against that fear: even when your body fails, even when your output drops to zero, friendship can still certify your place in the world.
The second clause tightens into a moral argument: “no man is useless while he has a friend.” It’s less Hallmark than social theory. Friendship becomes an antidote to isolation’s brutal story that you are surplus. Stevenson’s intent is to relocate dignity from the marketplace to the circle of care, insisting that being needed isn’t the same as being exploited. In a culture that loves to equate worth with measurable impact, he offers a softer, stubborn metric: if someone would miss you, you matter.
Quote Details
| Topic | Friendship |
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