If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair. Samuel Johnson
Friendship is not always the sequel of obligation. Samuel Johnson, Lives of the English Poets, ‘James Thomson’
It is more shameful to doubt one’s friends than to be duped by them. Duc de la Rochefoucauld
cf.
In the misfortune of our best friends, we always find something which is not displeasing to us. Duc de la Rochefoucauld
Fallen from his high estate,
And welt’ring in his blood:
Deserted at his utmost need
By those his former bounty fed;
On the bare earth exposed he lies,
With not a friend to close his eyes. John Dryden, 1631-1700, Alexander’s Feast
He makes no friend who never made a foe. Alfred Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the King
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends. John Lennon & Paul McCartney, title of song 1967
How often are we to die before we go quite off this stage? In every friend we lost a part of ourselves, and the best part. Alexander Pope, letter 5th December 1732
To cement a new friendship, especially between foreigners or persons of a different social world, a spark with which both were secretly charged must fly from person to person, and cut across the accidents of place and time. Cornelia Otis Skinner, The Ape in Me, 1959
There is little friendship in the world, and least of all between equals. Francis Bacon, Essays: ‘Of Followers and Friends’, 1625
Of two close friends, one is always the slave of the other. Mikhail Lermontov, A Hero of our Time, 1840
Freedom with oneself is all important because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world. Eleanor Roosevelt
An open foe may prove a curse,
But a pretended friend is worse. John Gay, Fables, 1727
God’s apology for relations. Hugh Kingsmill
The loneliest woman in the world is a woman without a close woman friend. George Santayana
True friends stab you in the front. Oscar Wilde
How to win friends and influence people. Dale Carnegie
Jamesie, I would like to say that you have been a great friend to me. I’d like to say it but I canee. Rab C Nesbitt s10e4: Fight, Rab of Ark, BBC 2011
Don’t think that this is a letter. It is only a small eruption of a disease called friendship. Jean Renoir, letter 12th June 1974
I do not believe that friends are necessarily the people you like best, they are merely the people who got there first. Peter Ustinov, Dear Me, 1977
Few friendships would survive if each one knew what his friend says of him behind his back. Blaise Pascal
Think where man’s glory most begins and ends,
And say my glory was I had such friends. W B Yeats
Peter Sellers: Takes your time to find out who your friends are, innit? Course I’ve been betrayed.
Terry-Thomas: We’ve all been betrayed, old chap. televised interview
And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. I Samuel 18:1
He that repeated a matter separateth very friends. Proverbs 17:9
A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17
73,771. There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24
Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Proverbs 27:6
Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.
He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.
Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. Proverbs 27:10&14&17
A faithful friend is the medicine of life. Ecclesiasticus 6:16
Forsake not an old friend. Ecclesiasticus 8:9
Friend, wherefore art thou come? Matthew 26:50
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13
O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for friends. They are friends one to another. He among you who taketh them for friends is (one) of them. Lo! Allah guideth not wrongdoing folk. Koran 5:51
Friends can help each other. A true friend is someone who lets you have total freedom to be yourself – and especially to feel. Or, not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at the moment is fine with them. That’s what real love amounts to – letting a person be what he really is. Jim Morrison
It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. J K Rowling
Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious. Thomas Aquinas
You’re a made man. Where are your friends now? By the Gun 2014 starring Ben Barnes & Harvey Keitel & Leighton Meester & Slaine & Ritchie Coster & Toby Jones & Kenny Wormald & Paul Ben-Victor et al, director James Mottern, fat bloke to Nick
It’s just the threat of that awful phoney friendliness I can’t stand. It’s that dreadful – affability. Rumpole of the Bailey: Rumpole at Sea s6e4, Rumpole to Hilda, ITV 1991
Sometimes friends piss each other off, right. It’s part of the deal. Mr Ayers, I’m honoured to be your friend. The Soloist 2009 starring Jamie Foxx & Robert Downey junior & Catherine Keener & Tom Hollander & Lisa Gay Hamilton & Nelsan Ellis & Rachael Harris & Stephen ROot & Lorraine Toussaint & Justin Martin & Octavia Spencer & Jena Malone & Lemon Anderson et al, director Joe Wright, Downey to Foxx
A year ago I met a man who was down on his luck and thought I might be able to help him. I don’t know that I have. Yes, my friend Mr Ayes now sleeps inside. He has a key. He has a bed. But his mental state and his well-being are as precarious now as the day we met. There are people who tell me I’ve helped him. Mental health experts who say that a simple act of being someone’s friend can change his brain chemistry, improve his function in the world. I can’t speak for Mr Ayers in that regard. Maybe our friendship has helped him, maybe not. I can however speak for myself. I can tell you that by witnessing Mr Ayer’s courage, his humility, his faith in the power of his art I have learned the dignity of being loyal to something you believe in. Holding on to him. Above all else believing without question. That it will carry you home. ibid. Foxx at Beethoven concert
The monster was the best friend I ever had. Boris Karloff
A quarrel between friends, when made up, adds a new tie to friendship. Saint Francis de Sales
I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude. Henry David Thoreau
Suspicion is the cancer of friendship. Petrarch