Our friends interpret the world and ourselves to us, if we take them tenderly and truly.

Alcott suggests that friendship is not merely comforting but interpretive: good friends help us make sense of the world and of our own character. The qualifying clause—“if we take them tenderly and truly”—implies that this benefit depends on receptivity and integrity. “Tenderly” points to humility and care in receiving another’s perspective; “truly” points to honesty, both in what friends offer and in how we accept it. The remark elevates friendship into a moral practice: through sincere, compassionate exchange, friends become living commentaries on our experience, correcting self-deception and enlarging understanding.