English Proverbs – TWO IS COMPANY, THREE IS CROWD

Proverb Expansion

TWO IS COMPANY, THREE IS CROWD

Everybody likes friends and friendship. It is always good to have the company of a good friend. A single person always feels lonely. He wants someone to love and to be loved. He wants to share his joys and sorrows with someone. He wants help and encouragement. Only a friend can fulfill all these needs. So he is constantly on the lookout for a company. Two persons make the ideal company. They supplement each other. The qualities of true friendship, namely, mutual understanding, good-will and fellow-feeling, exist among them. They share their sorrows and joys. They try to strengthen and inspire each other. But when a third person enters the company, the balance of friendship is disturbed. The dependence of the two on each other is lost. Each one may try to cultivate friendship with the new comer. A sort of inner fight grows among them. When the number of friends increases, the company turns into a crowd. It may then become difficult to take a decision which is acceptable to all. The larger the number of persons in a company, the more unmanageable it becomes. True friendship cannot exist in a crowd. So, it is said that two is company, three is crowd.