A friend is one before whom I may think aloud.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson, U.S. essayist, poet, and philosopher who led the transcendentalist movement, 1803-1882

Friends are relatives you make for yourself.

— Eustache Deschamps, French poet, 1346-1406

The rich know not who is his friend.

— Unknown source

It is easier to forgive an enemy than a friend.

— Madame Dorothee Deluzy, French actress, 1747-1830

The only way to have a friend is to be one.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson, U.S. essayist, poet, and philosopher who led the transcendentalist movement, 1803-1882

Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.

— Aristotle, ancient Greek philosopher, scientist,and a member of Plato’s Academy, 384-322 BCE

In life it is difficult to say who do you the most mischief, enemies with the worst intentions, or friends with the best.

— Unknown source

When my friends lack an eye, I look at them in profile.

— Joseph Joubert, French moralist and essayist, 1754-1824

It is better in times of need to have a friend rather than money.

— Greek proverb

With true friends . . . even water drunk together is sweet enough.

— Chinese proverb

Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them.

— Publilius Syrus, Syrian Latin writer, 85-43 BCE

It is not so much our friends’ help that helps us, as the confidence of their help.

— Epicurus, ancient Greek philosopher who founded the school of philosophy called Epicureanism, c. 341-270 BCE

Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends.

— Virginia Wolff, English modernist writer, 1882-1941

Parents are friends that life gives us; friends are parents that the heart chooses.

— Diane de Beausacq, French writer, 1829-1899

Give and take makes good friends.

— Scottish proverb

The most called-upon prerequisite of a friend is an accessible ear.

— Maya Angelou, U.S. author, poet, dancer, actress, and singer, 1928-2014

It is easier to visit friends than to live with them.

— Chinese proverb

Do not remove a fly from your friend’s forehead with a hatchet.

— Chinese proverb

In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends.

— John Churton Collins, British literary critic, 1848-1908

Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit.

— Aristotle, ancient Greek philosopher, scientist,and a member of Plato’s Academy, 384-322 BCE

Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.

— Unknown source

A friend is a masterpiece of nature.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson, U.S. essayist, poet, and philosopher who led the transcendentalist movement, 1803-1882

Friends are the family we choose for ourselves.

— Edna Buchanan, U.S. novelist, Born 1939

A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.

— Arnold H. Glasow, U.S. businessman, 1905-1998

True friends stab you in the front.

— Oscar Wilde, Irish poet and playwright, 1854-1900

Friends are lifelines!

— Unknown source

A foreigner is a friend I have yet to meet.

— Pearl Buck, U.S. writer, novelist, and recipient of the Pulitzer prize, as well as the first U.S. female recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1892-1973

A friend is someone who knows all about you, and loves you just the same.

— H.G. Bohn, British publisher and founder of Bohns Libraries, 1796-1884

Friends can be said to fall in like with as profound a thud as romantic partners fall in love.

— Letty Cottin Pogrebin, U.S. author, journalist, lecturer, social activist, and a founding editor of Ms. Magazine, Born 1939
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