That friendship will not continue to the end which is begun for an end.

Francis Quarles (1592–1644), a prominent English devotional poet and moralist, wrote in a period marked by intense religious and political strain leading into the English Civil War. His works frequently offer aphoristic counsel on virtue, piety, and the moral hazards of worldly ambition. This maxim reflects a common early modern concern with sincerity in human relations: friendships formed for advantage—patronage, profit, or social climbing—were seen as unstable and ethically suspect. Quarles’ epigrammatic style, shaped by emblem literature and moral commonplace traditions, lends itself to compact, memorable statements intended for reflection and self-examination.

Quarles contrasts friendship grounded in genuine affection and shared virtue with relationships initiated for a “purpose” external to friendship itself. If the bond is instrumental—begun to obtain money, influence, protection, or status—then once the desired end is reached (or proves unattainable), the relationship will likely dissolve. The line also implies a moral critique: treating friendship as a means rather than an end diminishes both parties, turning intimacy into transaction. In a broader ethical sense, the quote warns that durable human ties require disinterested commitment, not opportunism; what is founded on utility tends to be as temporary as the utility.