Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
A friend should bear a friend’s infirmities, but Brutus makes mine greater than they are.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Who seeks a faultless friend remains friendless.
—Turkish Proverb
Friendship is the privilege of private men; for wretched greatness knows no blessing so substantial.
—Nahum Tate (1652–1715) Irish Poet, Dramatist
Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.
—George Washington (1732–99) American Head of State, Military Leader
In America every woman has her set of girl-friends; some are cousins, the rest are gained at school. These form a permanent committee who sit on each other’s affairs, who “come out” together, marry and divorce together, and who end as those groups of bustling, heartless well-informed club-women who govern society. Against them the Couple of Ehepaar is helpless and Man in their eyes but a biological interlude.
—Cyril Connolly (1903–74) British Literary Critic, Writer
You may poke a man’s fire after you’ve known him for seven years.
—English Proverb
Two friendships in two breasts requires The same aversions and desires.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
I want my friend to miss me as long as I miss him.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
Everybody needs one essential friend.
—William Glasser (1925–2013) American Psychiatrist, Author, Speaker
A true friend is one soul in two bodies.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
One friend in a lifetime is much, two are many, three are hardly possible. Friendship needs a certain parallelism of life, a community of thought, a rivalry of aim.
—Henry Adams (1838–1918) American Historian, Man of Letters
One who looks for a friend without faults will have none.
—Hebrew Proverb
A good motto is: Use friendliness but do not use your friends.
—Frank Hall Crane (1873–1948) American Stage and Film Actor, Director
The mind is lowered through association with inferiors. With equals it attains equality; and with superiors, superiority.
—The Hitopadesha Indian Collection of Fables
Good fellowship and friendship are lasting, rational and manly pleasures.
—William Wycherley (c.1640–1716) English Dramatist
Never shall I forget the time I spent with you. Please continue to be my friend, as you will always find me yours.
—Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) German Composer, Musician
Often we have no time for our friends but all the time in the world for our enemies.
—Leon Uris (1924–2003) American Writer, Screenwriter
Your notions of friendship are new to me; I believe every man is born with his quantum, and he cannot give to one without robbing another. I very well know to whom I would give the first place in my friendship, but they are not in the way, I am condemned to another scene, and therefore I distribute it in pennyworths to those about me, and who displease me least, and should do the same to my fellow prisoners if I were condemned to a jail.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
A man cannot be said to succeed in this life who does not satisfy one friend.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Do not have evil-doers for friends, do not have low people for friends: have virtuous people for friends, have for friends the best of men.
—The Dhammapada Buddhist Anthology of Verses
Friends show me what I can do, foes teach me what I should do.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
Nothing is there more friendly to a man than a friend in need.
—Plautus (Titus Maccius Plautus) (c.250–184 BCE) Roman Comic Playwright
Love demands infinitely less than friendship.
—George Jean Nathan (1882–1958) American Critic, Editor, Writer
Instead of loving your enemies, treat your friends a little better.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
Your friend is your needs answered.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-American Philosopher, Poet, Sculptor
Friendships are fragile things and require as much care in handling as any other fragile and precious thing.
—Randolph Bourne (1886–1918) American Journalist, Social Critic
Friendship is one of the sweetest joys of life. Many might have failed beneath the bitterness of their trial had they not found a friend.
—Charles Spurgeon (1834–92) English Baptist Preacher
Friendships begun in this world will be taken up again, never to be broken off.
—Francis de Sales (1567–1622) French Catholic Saint
Friends are proved by adversity.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
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