Lewis on Friendship

Lamb says somewhere that if, of three friends (A, B, and C), A should die, then B loses not only A but "A's part in C," while C loses not only A but "A's part in B." In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronald's reaction to a specifically Caroline joke. Far from having more of Ron-ald, having him "to myself" now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald. Hence true Friendship is the least jealous of loves. *Iwo friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth, if only the newcomer is qualified to become a real friend. They can then say, as the blessed souls say in Dante, "Here comes one who will augment our loves." For in this love "to divide is not to take kind of funny that the moment you earnestly engage with the others, you obligate yourself to a continued existence in this world, there's this whole emotional causal chain that's dependent on you