The Plague of Friendship

The problem with knowing your friend is that the grace given to one's weaknesses will often outweigh their patience. The friend judged will be underestimated simply by virtue of your claim to understand them. In all our seeking after the understanding of others, it should be realized that misunderstanding is the plague of friendship, and neither party has a monopoly on it regardless of their intellectual and social abilities. Misunderstanding and malice are the foundations of enmity - one or the other or both in equal measure.

[via You saved my life from a colorless one...]