Quotes about friendship
page 4

Graham Greene photo
Evelyn Waugh photo
Théophile Gautier photo
Ray Bradbury photo
Sarah Dessen photo

“It is in the dark times that the light of friendship shines brightest.”

Richard Paul Evans (1962) American writer

Source: The Walk

Thomas Aquinas photo
Francis Bacon photo

“The worst solitute is to be destitute of true friendship.”

Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow photo
Anne Brontë photo

“I would rather have your friendship than the love of any other woman in the world!”

Source: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), Ch. XII : A Tête-à-tête and a Discovery; Gilbert to Helen
Context: You couldn't have given me less encouragement, or treated me with greater severity than you did! And if you think you have wronged me by giving me your friendship, and occasionally admitting to me to the enjoyment of your company and conversation, when all hopes of close intimacy were vain — as indeed you always gave me to understand — if you think you have wronged me by this, you are mistaken; for such favours, in themselves alone, are not only delightful to my heart, but purifying, exalting, ennobling to my soul; and I would rather have your friendship than the love of any other woman in the world!

David Levithan photo
Shannon Hale photo
Khaled Hosseini photo
Julia Child photo
David Levithan photo
Sherrilyn Kenyon photo
Michael Crichton photo

“Friendships are nice. So is competence.”

Michael Crichton (1942–2008) American author, screenwriter, film producer

Source: Disclosure

P.G. Wodehouse photo
Simone de Beauvoir photo

“One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion.”

Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist, and social theorist

As quoted in Successful Aging : A Conference Report (1974) by Eric Pfeiffer, p. 142
Attributed

“Nothing of real worth can ever be bought. Love, friendship, honour, valour, respect. All these things have to be earned.”

David Gemmell (1948–2006) British author of heroic fantasy

Source: Shield of Thunder

Markus Zusak photo
Kim Harrison photo
Marcus Tullius Cicero photo

“Life is nothing without friendship.”

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman
Cassandra Clare photo
Martin Luther King, Jr. photo

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy to a friend.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1950s, Loving Your Enemies (Christmas 1957)
Context: A third reason why we should love our enemies is that love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. We never get rid of an enemy by meeting hate with hate; we get rid of an enemy by getting rid of enmity. By its very nature, love creates and builds up. Love transforms with redemptive power.

Anna Quindlen photo
Cassandra Clare photo

“Judging people together was an essential part of best friendship”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: Born to Endless Night

Charles Kingsley photo
Ray Bradbury photo
Khushwant Singh photo
Emily Brontë photo

“Love is like the wild rose-briar;
Friendship like the holly-tree.
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms,
But which will bloom most constantly?”

Emily Brontë (1818–1848) English novelist and poet

Love and Friendship
Source: The Complete Poems

Ella Wheeler Wilcox photo

“All love that has not friendship for its base,
Is like a mansion built upon the sand.”

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) American author and poet

Love
Poetry quotes, New Thought Pastels (1913)

Elie Wiesel photo
Michel De Montaigne photo
Jay McInerney photo

“The capacity for friendship is God's way of apologizing for our families.”

Jay McInerney (1955) American writer

Source: The Last of the Savages

Eoin Colfer photo

“Friendship isn't a science mudboy. Just do what you think is right.”

Eoin Colfer (1965) Irish author of children's books

Source: The Opal Deception

Elie Wiesel photo
Cassandra Clare photo

“Vows of friendship and love are stronger”

Source: Lady Midnight

Marcus Tullius Cicero photo

“Everybody I know fails the acid test of friendship.”

Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist

Source: The Days Are Just Packed

Jonathan Lethem photo
Quentin Crisp photo
David Lee photo
Jimmy Carter photo

“When combined, the small individual contributors of caring, friendship, forgiveness, and love, each of us different from our next-door neighbors, can form a phalanx, an army, with great capability.”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

Page 186
Post-Presidency, Our Endangered Values (2005)

Lal Bahadur Shastri photo
André Maurois photo

“Does absolute reliance carry with it a complete exchange of confidences? I believe that true friendship cannot exist otherwise.”

André Maurois (1885–1967) French writer

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Friendship

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson photo
Richard III of England photo

“Monsieur, mon cousin,

I have seen the letters you have sent me by Buckingham herald, whereby I understand that you want my friendship in good form and manner, which contents me well enough; for I have no intention of breaking such truces as have previously been concluded between the late King of most noble memory, my brother, and you for as long as they still have to run. Nevertheless, the merchants of this my kingdom of England, seeing the great provocation your subjects have given them in seizing ships and merchandise and other goods, are fearful of venturing to go to Bordeaux and other places under your rule until they are assured by you that they can surely and safely carry on trade in all the places subject to your sway, according to the rights established by the aforesaid truces. Therefore, in order that my subjects and merchants may not find themselves deceived as a result of this present ambiguous situation, I pray you that by my servant this bearer, one of the grooms of my stable, you will let me know in writing your full intentions, at the same time informing me if there is anything I can do for you in order that I may do it with a good heart. And farewell to you, Monsieur mon cousin.”

Richard III of England (1452–1485) English monarch

Letter sent, as King of England, 18 August, 1483, to Louis XI of France. Reprinted in Richard the Third (1956) http://books.google.com/books?id=dNm0JgAACAAJ&dq=Paul+Murray+Kendall+Richard+the+Third&ei=TZHDR8zXKZKIiQHf2NCpCA

Rani Mukerji photo
Thomas Aquinas photo

“Charity, by which God and neighbor are loved, is the most perfect friendship.”

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican scholastic philosopher of the Roman Catholic Church

Source: Quaestiones disputatae: De caritate (ca. 1270) http://dhspriory.org/thomas/QDdeVirtutibus2.htm#4

Alexis Bledel photo
Walker Percy photo

“Conceptual Art in the broadest sense was a kind of laboratory for innovations in the rest of the century. An unconscious international energy emerged from the raw materials of friendship, art history, interdisciplinary readings and a fervor to change the world and the ways artists related to it.”

Lucy R. Lippard (1937) American art curator

Quote in: Ken Johnsonoct. " Planter of the Seeds Of Mind-Expanding Conceptualism http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/arts/design/lucy-r-lippard-and-conceptual-art-at-brooklyn-museum.html." in New York Times, Oct. 18, 2012.

Thomas Moore photo

“A friendship that like love is warm;
A love like friendship, steady.”

Thomas Moore (1779–1852) Irish poet, singer and songwriter

How shall I woo?
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Mahatma Gandhi photo
Stephen Baxter photo
Nalo Hopkinson photo

“Come in peace to my home, Tan-Tan. And when you go, go in friendship.”

Section 4 (p. 179)
Midnight Robber (2000)

David Fleming photo
Samuel Butler photo
Michael Swanwick photo
Clive Staples Lewis photo

“The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, "What? You too? I thought I was the only one."”

The Four Loves (1960)
Context: Friendship arises out of mere companionship when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest or even taste which the others do not share and which, till that moment, each believed to be his own unique treasure (or burden). The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, "What? You too? I thought I was the only one."

Harun Yahya photo
Hunter S. Thompson photo
Harry Schwarz photo

“I regard the Honourable member for Randburg as a friend. I regard him as a person who has done tremendous work as treasurer of the United Party on the Witswatersrand branch. The test of friendship comes in what you do as a man in adversity. I want to say, and I make so secret of it, that I am my brother's keeper and I will not be his executioner.”

Harry Schwarz (1924–2010) South African activist

An extract from Schwarz's "Brother's Keeper" speech to parliament where Schwarz was expelled from the United Party after declaring support for Dick Enthoven MP and his anti-apartheid policies. (10 February 1975).
Parliament (1974-1991)

“Your honoured letter regarding suppression of the Jats has arrived. Allah is merciful, and it is hoped that he will crush the enemy. You should rest assured… You should forge unity with Musa Khan and other Muslim groups, and put to use this friendship and unity for facing the enemies. I hope for sure that on account of this unity among Muslims and their nobility, victory will be achieved.
The reason for the rise of enemies and the fall of Muslims is nothing except that, led by their lower nature, Muslims have shared their (Muslims’) concerns with Hindus. It is obvious that Hindus will not tolerate the suppression of non-Muslims. Being farsighted and practising patience are praiseworthy things, but not to the extent that non-Muslims take possession of Muslim cities, and go on occupying one (such) city every day… This is no time for farsightedness and patience. This is the time for putting trust in Allah, for manifesting the might of the sword, and for arousing the Muslim sense of honour. If you will do that, it is possible that winds of favour will start blowing. Whatever this recluse knows is this that war with the Jats is a magic spell which appears fearful at first but which, if you depend fully on the power of Allah and draw His attention towards this (war), will turn out to be no more than a mere show. Let me hope that you will keep me informed of developments and the faring of your arms…”

Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (1703–1762) Indian muslim scholar

To Taj Muhammad Khan Baluch Translated from the Urdu version of K.A. Nizami, Shãh Walîullah Dehlvî ke Siyãsî Maktûbãt, Second Edition, Delhi, 1969, pp. 150-51.
From his letters

Charles, Prince of Wales photo

“Jonathan Dimbleby: Understandably, when your marriage collapsed, you form close friendships, you re-establish close friendships, of whatever character that friendship is. Were you, did you try to be, faithful and honourable to your wife when you took on the vow of marriage?
Charles, Prince of Wales: Yes, absolutely.
Dimbleby: And you were?
Charles: Yes, until it became irretrievably broken down, us both having tried.”

Charles, Prince of Wales (1948) son of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Alan Hamilton, "Intimate portrait of a private man in the public eye", The Times, 30 June 1994.
Interview with Jonathan Dimbleby for the television programme "Charles: The private man, the public role", transmitted 29 June 1994.
1990s

Khalil Gibran photo

“Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.”

Khalil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese artist, poet, and writer

Sand and Foam (1926)

Hafizullah Amin photo

“Those who boast of friendship with us, they can really be our friend when they respect our independence, our soil and our prideful traditions.”

Hafizullah Amin (1929–1979) politician, former Afghan head of state (1979)

As quoted in Beverley Male (1982) Revolutionary Afghanistan: A Reappraisal, page 183

Gautama Buddha photo

“In Aryans' Discipline, to build a friendship is to build wealth, to maintain a friendship is to maintain wealth and to end a friendship is to end wealth.”

Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism

Gautama Buddha, Cakkavatti Sutta, Patika Vagga, Digha Nikaya
Unclassified

Sergey Nechayev photo
Milan Kundera photo
Sallust photo

“For to like the same things and to dislike the same things, only this is a strong friendship.”
Nam idem velle atque idem nolle, ea demum firma amicitia est.

Sallust (-86–-34 BC) Roman historian, politician

Source: Bellum Catilinae (c. 44 BC), Chapter XX, 4; quoting Catiline

William Penn photo
Samuel Johnson photo
Willa Cather photo
Democritus photo

“The friendship of one wise man is better than the friendship of a host of fools.”

Democritus Ancient Greek philosopher, pupil of Leucippus, founder of the atomic theory

Source Book in Ancient Philosophy (1907), The Golden Sayings of Democritus

Christopher Hitchens photo
Adolf Hitler photo
Colette photo

“But just as delicate fare does not stop you from craving for saveloys, so tried and exquisite friendship does not take away your taste for something new and dubious.”

Colette (1873–1954) 1873-1954 French novelist: wrote Gigi

Chambre d’Hôtel, "The Rainy Moon" (1940)

“Pakistan, its namaaz-raising hands dipped in the blood of Hindus and Sikhs, began as an Islamic terrorist State and continues to live up to its foundational values. Take it from Balasaheb and me: nothing will emerge from the latest "hand of friendship."”

Varsha Bhosle (1956–2012) Singer, Columnist

Unless, of course, it is Kargil II.
Quoted from Varsha Will Live On IBTL http://www.ibtl.in/column/1304/varsha-will-live-on/, Rediff.com http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/26varsha.htm

Samuel Adams photo

“Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say "what should be the reward of such sacrifices?" Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship and plough, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom — go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!”

Samuel Adams (1722–1803) American statesman, Massachusetts governor, and political philosopher

Speech in Philadelphia (1776)
Variant: If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude <ins>better</ins> than the animat<del>ed</del><ins>ing</ins> contest of freedom — go <del>home</del> from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or <ins>your</ins> arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains <del>sit</del><ins>set</ins> lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen<del>!</del><ins>.</ins>

Albrecht Thaer photo

“Arriving in Berlin, I found myself in my element, and began to breathe freely. Jerusalem and Lessing had given us letters of introduction to the greatest men in Berlin; but they knew us already, Leisewitz as author of "Julius Von Tarent," and myself as author of my Dissertation. We had daily the choice of the first society; covers were laid for us in the first families daily, for dinner as well as supper. Von Zetlitz sent a general invitation that covers were laid for us every day during our stay in Berlin. Most of the time we could spare was divided between physicians and philosophers, of which the latter had the greater share. Spalding, Mendelsohn, Eberhard, Engel, Nicolai, Reichard, and Madame Bamberger, daughter of Doctor Sack, Bishop of Berlin, honoured us with their most sincere friendship. The latter, a highly gifted and accomplished lady, possessed the rare art of spreading over the most abstract hypothesis and theorem the brightest and most charming light; Jerusalem, the father of the ill-fated Werther (see the "Sorrows of Werther," by Goethe), used to send her his works to correct, and she alone was able to console and comfort him, when he was informed of the death of his beloved son. This amiable lady assumes in common life the character of a plain woman, and when at court, as friend of the Queen and the Princess Amalie, she won all hearts by her truly noble man ners and unconstrained courtesy: at court beloved, she was admired, nay, adored in the philosophical clubs. But do not think that here alone we spent all our time; Madame Bamberger knew how to blend study with amusement; she issued frequently cards of invitation to select parties, for suppers and balls, and her house was the point of union of all that was learned, beautiful, and amiable. Thus Berlin became my Paradise. I had the most tempting offers from the Minister of State to stay here; but the illness of my father obliged me, after a stay of three months, to return home. I visited Lessing on my journey back; stayed two days, which were the most interesting of all days I ever remember.”

Albrecht Thaer (1752–1828) German agronomist and an avid supporter of the humus theory for plant nutrition

My Life and Confessions, for Philippine, 1786

Ahmad Sirhindi photo

“Therefore, it is necessary that infidelity should be cursed in order to serve the faith (Islam). Cursing unbelief in the heart is the lesser way. The greater way is to curse it in the heart as well as with the body. In short, cursing means to nourish enmity towards enemies of the true faith, whether that enmity is harboured in the heart when there is fear of injury from them (infidels), or it is harboured in the heart as well as served with the body when there is no fear of injury from them.
In the opinion of this recluse, there is no greater way to obtain the blessings of Allah than to curse the enemies of the faith (be impatient with them). For Allah himself harbours enmity towards the infidels and infidelity…
Once I went to visit a sick man who was close to death. When I meditated on him, I saw that his heart was layered with darknesses. I intended to remove those darknesses. But he was not yet ready for it… When I meditated more deeply, I discovered that those darknesses had gathered due to his friendship with the infidels. They could not be dispersed easily. He had to suffer torments of hell before he could get purged of them…”

Ahmad Sirhindi (1564–1624) Indian philosopher

Maktubat-i-Imam Rabbani translated into Urdu by Maulana Muhammad Sa’id Ahmad Naqshbandi, Deoband, 1988, Volume III, pp. 660-63. These passages are from a long letter in which Ahmad Sirhindi answered a large number of questions from his disciples.
From his letters

Robert Smith (musician) photo
William Hazlitt photo

“Even in the common affairs of life, in love, friendship, and marriage, how little security have we when we trust our happiness in the hands of others!”

William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English writer

"On Living to One's-Self"
Table Talk: Essays On Men And Manners http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Essays/TableHazIV.htm (1821-1822)