People · 1822
Do not keep on with a mockery of friendship after the substance is gone — but part, while you can part friends. Bury the carcass of friendship: it is not worth embalming.
— William Hazlitt · On the Conduct of Life
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
Once a friendship has hollowed out, pretending otherwise only drags out the discomfort. Better to end it cleanly while goodwill still remains than to keep performing closeness for its own sake. The embalming image is blunt on purpose, insisting that dead things shouldn't be dressed up and kept around.
Context reviewed