“Death lurks in the farewell of a true friend.”

“My dear friends, I bid you farewell as your President. I remain with you as your fellow citizen!”

Václav Havel (1936–2011) playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and 1st President of the Czech Republic

“Farewell, woman! I intend
Henceforth every night to sit
With my lewd, well-natured friend,
Drinking to engender wit.”

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647–1680) English poet, and peer of the realm

“And will he who is a true lover of wisdom, and is persuaded in like manner that only in the world below can he worthily enjoy her, still repine at death? Will he not depart with joy? Surely he will, my friend, if he be a true philosopher. …And if this be true, he would be very absurd, …if he were to fear death.”

Socrates (-470–-399 BC) classical Greek Athenian philosopher

“Death was a friend, and sleep was Death's brother.”

John Steinbeck book The Grapes of Wrath

“A true friend is forever a friend.”

George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish journalist, novelist

“Don't be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

“Whatever godlike powers and principalities lurked beyond the stars, Poole reminded himself, for ordinary humans only two things were important - Love and Death.”

Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British science fiction writer, science writer, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host

“My best! my last friends!
Let's not unman each other: part at once:
All farewells should be sudden, when for ever,
Else they make an eternity of moments,
And clog the last sad sands of life with tears.
Hence, and be happy: trust me, I am not
Now to be pitied; or far more for what
Is past than present; — for the future, 'tis
In the hands of the deities, if such
There be: I shall know soon. Farewell — Farewell.”

George Gordon Byron Sardanapalus

“If a friend envies you, then he is not a true friend.”

Ali book Nahj al-Balagha