Culling acquaintances isn't a sign that we've lost belief in friendship, it's evidence that we're starting to get clearer and therefore more demanding about what a friendship could really be.

剔除熟人并不是我们对友谊失去信心的迹象，而是我们开始变得更加清晰的证据， 因此对友谊的真正含义提出了更高的要求。

For the English to lose belief in themselves — not merely in their potential goodness, but in their pre-eminence as examples and agents of good — would mean as hopeless a national corruption as any recorded in history.

对于英国人来说，失去对自己的信心——不仅是对他们潜在的善良，而且是对他们作为善的榜样和代理人的卓越表现——将意味着与历史上任何记录一样无望的国家腐败。