New Friends and Old Friends
Make new friends, but keep the old;
Those are silver, these are gold.
New-made friendships, like new wine,
Age will mellow and refine.
Friendships that have stood the test -
Time and change - are surely best;
Brow may wrinkle, hair grow gray;
Friendship never knows decay.
For ’mid old friends, tried and true,
Once more we our youth renew.
But old friends, alas! may die;
New friends must their place supply.
Cherish friendship in your breast -
New is good, but old is best;
Make new friends, but keep the old;
Those are silver, these are gold.
by Joseph Parry
Joseph Parry was born on 21 May 1841 in a cottage, which still stands as a museum to his life, at 4 Chapel Row, Merthyr Tydfil, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, United Kingdom. He immigrated with his family at 13 years of age in 1854 to the United States of America. Parry was a miner and an ironworker by trade in his early life in Pennsylvania, but he later returned to the United Kingdom, where he studied and taught music. He was a professor of music at the University of Wales from 1873 to 1877. He set several Welsh writings to music, which were performed widely in both the United States of America and Wales during his lifetime. Joseph Parry passed on at 61 years of age on 17 February 1903 in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, United Kingdom.
“Forsake not an old friend, for the new is not comparable to him: a new friend is as new wine: when it is old, thou shalt drinke it with pleasure.” -Ben Sira: ‘The Wisdom of Jesus, the son of Sirach,’ also known as the ‘Book of Ecclesiasticus’ (about 180 B.C.E.), chapter 9, verse 10
(The preceding quotation is shown in the Old Testament ‘Apocrypha’ section of “The Bible” (Authorized King James Version (1611)). Please note that many modern editions of “The Bible” omit the ‘Apocrypha,’ and that the ‘Book of Ecclesiasticus’ should not be confused with the ‘Book of Ecclesiastes.’)
Make new friends, but keep the old;
Those are silver, these are gold.
New-made friendships, like new wine,
Age will mellow and refine.
Friendships that have stood the test -
Time and change - are surely best;
Brow may wrinkle, hair grow gray;
Friendship never knows decay.
For ’mid old friends, tried and true,
Once more we our youth renew.
But old friends, alas! may die;
New friends must their place supply.
Cherish friendship in your breast -
New is good, but old is best;
Make new friends, but keep the old;
Those are silver, these are gold.
by Joseph Parry
Joseph Parry was born on 21 May 1841 in a cottage, which still stands as a museum to his life, at 4 Chapel Row, Merthyr Tydfil, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, United Kingdom. He immigrated with his family at 13 years of age in 1854 to the United States of America. Parry was a miner and an ironworker by trade in his early life in Pennsylvania, but he later returned to the United Kingdom, where he studied and taught music. He was a professor of music at the University of Wales from 1873 to 1877. He set several Welsh writings to music, which were performed widely in both the United States of America and Wales during his lifetime. Joseph Parry passed on at 61 years of age on 17 February 1903 in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, United Kingdom.
“Forsake not an old friend, for the new is not comparable to him: a new friend is as new wine: when it is old, thou shalt drinke it with pleasure.” -Ben Sira: ‘The Wisdom of Jesus, the son of Sirach,’ also known as the ‘Book of Ecclesiasticus’ (about 180 B.C.E.), chapter 9, verse 10
(The preceding quotation is shown in the Old Testament ‘Apocrypha’ section of “The Bible” (Authorized King James Version (1611)). Please note that many modern editions of “The Bible” omit the ‘Apocrypha,’ and that the ‘Book of Ecclesiasticus’ should not be confused with the ‘Book of Ecclesiastes.’)
