--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What are friends for, if not to help bear…" description: "\"What are friends for, if not to help bear our sins?\" — Nella Larsen" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cff/nella-larsen-16508_bears_what-are-friends-for-if-not-to-help-bear_1853035.png" --- # What are friends for, if not to help bear our sins? ![“What are friends for, if not to help bear our sins?” quote by Nella Larsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cff/nella-larsen-16508_bears_what-are-friends-for-if-not-to-help-bear_1853035.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cff/nella-larsen-16508_bears_what-are-friends-for-if-not-to-help-bear_1853035.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cff/nella-larsen-16508_bears_what-are-friends-for-if-not-to-help-bear_1853035.png) > “What are friends for, if not to help bear our sins?” [Nella Larsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nella-larsen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Friends exist to share burdens, including moral failings, offering mutual support and accountability. **In simple terms:** Friends help bear each other's moral burdens. Key Takeaway Lean on friends for moral support. Themes friendship morality burden sharing Mood empathetic reflective Type philosophical advice When to use this quote - community building - counseling - ethical dilemmas Key Concepts ethical solidarity interpersonal responsibility Questions to Reflect On - When should you confront a friend’s wrongdoing? - How do you balance support with moral accountability? A Different Perspective Friends may also enable harmful behavior. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bears/) [Friend](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friend/) [Friends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friends/) [Friendship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friendship/) [Sin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sin/) [Sins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sins/) ## Related quotes > [Don't worry about me. Worry about the next man. If you see me in a fight, don't help me. Pour honey on me and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/riddick-bowe/don-t-worry-about-me-worry-about-the-next-man-if-you-see-me-in-a/) [Riddick Bowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/riddick-bowe/) > [Let us help one another to bear our burdens.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/voltaire/let-us-help-one-another-to-bear-our-burdens/) [Voltaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/voltaire/) > [Wealth, honors, pleasures, is not so eagerly to be desired as the forgiveness of our sins.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-a-torrey/wealth-honors-pleasures-is-not-so-eagerly-to-be-desired-as-the/) [R. A. Torrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-a-torrey/) > [Known to the Lord from the beginning were all your sins. Nevertheless, He still loved you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/known-to-the-lord-from-the-beginning-were-all-your-sins-nevertheless/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) > [It is in the brain, and the brain only, that the great sins of the world take place also. You, Mr. Gray, you yourself,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/it-is-in-the-brain-and-the-brain-only-that-the-great-sins-of-the/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Oh people, know that you have committed great sins. If you ask me what proof I have for these words, I say it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/genghis-khan/oh-people-know-that-you-have-committed-great-sins-if-you-ask-me-what/) [Genghis Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/genghis-khan/) > [God will cleanse your sins if you yourself are dissatisfied with yourself and will keep on changing until you are perfect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/god-will-cleanse-your-sins-if-you-yourself-are-dissatisfied-with/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [If God has laid your sins upon the Son of His love, you may rest assured that He will never lay them a second…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavius-winslow/if-god-has-laid-your-sins-upon-the-son-of-his-love-you-may-rest/) [Octavius Winslow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavius-winslow/) > [Sins become more subtle as you grow older: you commit sins of despair rather than of lust.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/piers-paul-read/sins-become-more-subtle-as-you-grow-older-you-commit-sins-of-despair/) Piers Paul Read > [Unbelief is the greatest of sins.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-aquinas/unbelief-is-the-greatest-of-sins/) [Thomas Aquinas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-aquinas/) > [I'll read enough When I do see the very book indeed Where all my sins are writ, and that's myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/i-ll-read-enough-when-i-do-see-the-very-book-indeed-where-all-my-sins/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [The Sins of Scripture is an interesting title; most people don't put sins and scripture together in the same title. It jars people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-shelby-spong/the-sins-of-scripture-is-an-interesting-title-most-people-don-t-put/) [John Shelby Spong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-shelby-spong/) > [If you are to go to Christ, do not put on your good doings and feelings, or you will get nothing. Go in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/if-you-are-to-go-to-christ-do-not-put-on-your-good-doings-and/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) > [Our sins are debts that none can pay but Christ. It is not our tears, but His blood; it is not our sighs, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-brooks/our-sins-are-debts-that-none-can-pay-but-christ-it-is-not-our-tears/) [Thomas Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-brooks/) > [“To shame our sins He blushed in blood; He closed His eyes to show us God; Let all the world fall down and know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-of-clairvaux/to-shame-our-sins-he-blushed-in-blood-he-closed-his-eyes-to-show-us/) [Bernard of Clairvaux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-of-clairvaux/) ## More by Nella Larsen > [“Brian darling, I’m really not such an idiot that I don’t realize that if a man calls me a nigger it’s his fault the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nella-larsen/brian-darling-i-m-really-not-such-an-idiot-that-i-don-t-realize-that/) [Nella Larsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nella-larsen/) > [“You knew what his opinion of you was, while he -- Well, 'twas ever thus. We know, always have. They don't. Not quite. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nella-larsen/you-knew-what-his-opinion-of-you-was-while-he-well-twas-ever-thus-we/) [Nella Larsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nella-larsen/) > [“No, certainly he didn’t. Not actually. He couldn’t, not very well, since he didn’t know. But he would have. It amounts to the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nella-larsen/no-certainly-he-didn-t-not-actually-he-couldn-t-not-very-well-since/) [Nella Larsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nella-larsen/) > [These people yapped loudly of race, of race consciousness, of race pride, and yet suppressed its most delightful manifestations, love of color, joy of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nella-larsen/these-people-yapped-loudly-of-race-of-race-consciousness-of-race/) [Nella Larsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nella-larsen/) > [“And mingled with her disbelief and resentment was another feeling, a question. Why hadn’t she spoken that day? Why, in the face of Bellew’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nella-larsen/and-mingled-with-her-disbelief-and-resentment-was-another-feeling-a/) [Nella Larsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nella-larsen/) > [“But there was, she knew, something else. Happiness, she supposed. Whatever that might be. What, exactly, she wondered, was happiness. Very positively she wanted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nella-larsen/but-there-was-she-knew-something-else-happiness-she-supposed-whatever/) [Nella Larsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nella-larsen/) > [If sex isn't a joke, what is it?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nella-larsen/if-sex-isn-t-a-joke-what-is-it/) [Nella Larsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nella-larsen/) > [“she regarded with an astonishment that had in it a mild degree of amusement the violence of the feelings which it stirred in her.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nella-larsen/she-regarded-with-an-astonishment-that-had-in-it-a-mild-degree-of/) [Nella Larsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nella-larsen/) > [“This, Irene told her, was the year 1927 in the city of New York, and hundreds of white people of Hugh Wentworth’s type came…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nella-larsen/this-irene-told-her-was-the-year-1927-in-the-city-of-new-york-and/) [Nella Larsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nella-larsen/) > [that's what everybody wants, just a little more money, even the people who have it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nella-larsen/that-s-what-everybody-wants-just-a-little-more-money-even-the-people/) [Nella Larsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nella-larsen/) > [“Not so lonely that that old, queer, unhappy restlessness had begun again within him; that craving for some place strange and different, which at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nella-larsen/not-so-lonely-that-that-old-queer-unhappy-restlessness-had-begun/) [Nella Larsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nella-larsen/) > [“After all these years to still blame her like this. Hadn’t his success proved that she’d been right in insisting that he stick to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nella-larsen/after-all-these-years-to-still-blame-her-like-this-hadn-t-his-success/) [Nella Larsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nella-larsen/) > [Have you ever stopped to think how much unhappiness and downright cruelty are laid to the loving kindness of the Lord? And always by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nella-larsen/have-you-ever-stopped-to-think-how-much-unhappiness-and-downright/) [Nella Larsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nella-larsen/) > [I feel like the oldest person in the world with the longest stretch of life before me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nella-larsen/i-feel-like-the-oldest-person-in-the-world-with-the-longest-stretch/) [Nella Larsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nella-larsen/) > [I think being a mother is the cruelest thing in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nella-larsen/i-think-being-a-mother-is-the-cruelest-thing-in-the-world/) [Nella Larsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nella-larsen/) [Explore all 39 Nella Larsen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nella-larsen/) ## More Bears quotes > [For not only every democracy, but certainly every republic, bears within itself the seeds of its own destruction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/for-not-only-every-democracy-but-certainly-every-republic-bears/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [She'd read once that if you ran into a bear in the woods you should avoid eye contact and you shouldn't run away, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-ursu/she-d-read-once-that-if-you-ran-into-a-bear-in-the-woods-you-should/) [Anne Ursu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-ursu/) > [In the movie, the stars above the ship bear no correspondence to any constellations in a real sky. 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Open your hearts and search the Scriptures. Bear your cross,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/pay-no-heed-to-the-passing-religious-vogue-go-back-to-the-grass-roots/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [I want you to take a red-hot bath as hot as you can bear it, and just relax your nerves. You can read in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/i-want-you-to-take-a-red-hot-bath-as-hot-as-you-can-bear-it-and-just/) [F. 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