Friendship

I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve. — J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

The best post in this thread reads as follows:

As I have understood it, without detailed analysis:
Those who were Bilbo's friends were warmed by his appreciation of their friendship;
Those who were Bilbo's acquaintances were warmed by his saying he'd have liked to know them better;
Those who were Bilbo's irritants (the Sackville-Bagginses for example) knew they had been insulted but could not, for the life of them, figure out how.