friendship

Friendship

Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behavior between two or more beings. This article focuses on the notion specific to interpersonal relationships. In this sense, the term connotes a relationship which involves mutual knowledge, esteem, and affection along with a degree of rendering service to friends in times of need or crisis. Friends will welcome each other's company and exhibit loyalty towards each other, often to the point of altruism. Their tastes will usually be similar and may converge, and they will share enjoyable activities. They will also engage in mutually helping behavior, such as exchange of advice and the sharing of hardship. A friend is someone who may often demonstrate reciprocating and reflective behaviors. Yet for many, friendship is nothing more than the trust that someone or something will not harm them. Value that is found in friendships is often the result of a friend demonstrating the following on a consistent basis:
the tendency to desire what is best for the other,
sympathy and empathy,
honesty, perhaps in situations where it may be difficult for others to speak the truth, especially in terms of pointing out the perceived faults of one's counterpart
mutual understanding.

Friends in Nazareth, Israel. Friendships are often the most important relationships in the emotional life of the adolescent, and are often more intense than relationships later in life.
In a comparison of personal relationships, friendship is considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association can be thought of as spanning across the same continuum. The study of friendship is included in sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and zoology. Various theories of friendship have been proposed, among which are social psychology, social exchange theory, equity theory, relational dialectics, and attachment styles. See Interpersonal relationships
Friendship is considered one of the central human experiences, and has been sanctified by all major religions. The Epic of Gilgamesh, a Babylonian poem that is among the earliest known literary works in history, chronicles in great depth the friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. The Greco-Roman had, as a paramount example, the friendship of Orestes and Pylades. The Abrahamic faiths have the story of David and Jonathan. Friendship played an important role in German Romanticism. A good example for this is Schiller's Die Bürgschaft. The Christian Gospels state that Jesus Christ declared, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends."(John 15:13).
In philosophy, Aristotle is known for his discussion (in the Nicomachean Ethics) of philia, which is usually (somewhat misleadingly) translated as "friendship," and certainly includes friendship, though is a much broader concept.
Cultural variations: (stub-section) A group of friends consists of two or more people who are in a mutually pleasing relationship engendering a sentiment of camaraderie, exclusivity, and mutual trust. There are varying degrees of "closeness" between friends. Hence, some people choose to differentiate and categorize friendships based on this sentiment.
Contents.
1 Greece
2 Rome
3 Russia
4 Asia
5 Modern west
6 Decline of close friendships
7 Developmental issues
8 Types of friendship
9 Non-personal friendships
10 Interspecies friendship and animal friendship
11 Colloquial terms
12 Friendship contrasted with comradeship
13 Bibliography
14 See also
15 References
16 External links
17 Headline text

Greece
In Ancient Greece, in Plato's Symposium, a character named Pausanius asserts: "the interests of rulers require that their subjects should be poor in spirit, and that there should be no strong bond of friendship or society among them, which love, above all other motives, is likely to inspire, as our Athenian tyrants learned by experience; for the love of Aristogeiton and the constancy of Harmodius had a strength which undid their power." (Symposium; 182c). The overall tone of The Symposium stresses the importance of asceticism and spiritual love over lust. Critics have long had difficulty interpreting the various opinions outlined in The Symposium, and generally agree that Plato's view is prescriptive rather than descriptive. Nevertheless, the speech of Pausanius provides evidence for pederasty in 5th century Athens.
For Aristotle's position, see Philia.

Rome
During the time of the Roman Empire, Cicero had his own beliefs on friendship. Cicero believed that in order to have a true friendship with someone there must be all honesty and truth. If there isn’t, then this isn’t a true friendship. In that case, friends must be one hundred percent honest with each other and put one hundred percent of their trust in the other person. Cicero also believed that for people to be friends with another person, they must do things without the expectation that their friend will have to repay them. He also believes that if a friend is about to do something wrong, and something that goes against your morals, you shouldn’t compromise your morals. You must explain why what they are going to do is wrong, and help them to see what the right thing to do is, because Cicero believes that ignorance is the cause of evil. Finally the last thing that Cicero believed was that the reason that a friendship comes to an end is because one person in that friendship has become bad. (On Friendship, Cicero)

Russia
The relationship is constructed differently in different cultures. In Russia, for example, one typically accords very few people the status of "friend". These friendships however make up in intensity what they lack in number. Friends are entitled to call each other by their first names alone, and to use diminutives. A norm of polite behaviour is addressing "acquaintances" by full first name plus patronymic. These could include relationships which elsewhere would be qualified as real friendships, such as workplace relationships of long standing, neighbors with whom one shares an occasional meal and visit, and so on. Physical contact between friends is expected, and friends, whether or not of the same sex, will embrace, sometimes kiss and walk in public with their arms around each other, or arm-in-arm, or hand-in-hand.
According to Oleg Kharkhordin in a paper on the politics of friendship, in Soviet society, friendships were "a suspect value for the Stalinist regime" in that they presented a stronger allegiance that could stand in possible opposition to allegiance to the Communist party. "By definition, a friend was an individual who would not let you down even under direct menace to him- or herself; a person to whom one could securely entrust one's controversial thoughts since he or she would never betray them, even under pressure. Friendship thus in a sense became an ultimate value produced in resistance struggles in the Soviet Union".

Asia
In the Middle East and Central Asia male friendships, while less restricted than in Russia, tend also to be reserved and respectable in nature.

Modern west
In the Western world, intimate physical contact has been sexualized in the public mind over the last one hundred years and is considered almost taboo in friendship, especially between two males. However, stylized hugging or kissing may be considered acceptable, depending on the context (see, for example, the kiss the tramp gives the kid in The Kid). In Spain and other Mediterranean countries men may embrace each other in public and kiss each other on the cheek. This is not limited solely to older generations but rather is present throughout all generations. In young children throughout the modern western world, friendship, usually of a homosocial nature, typically exhibits elements of a closeness and intimacy suppressed later in life in order to conform to societal standards.

Decline of close friendships

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The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.
The number and quality of friendships for the average American has been declining since at least 1985, according to a 2006 study.[1] The study states that 25% of Americans have no close confidants, and that the average total number of confidants per person has dropped to 2.
In recent times, some thinkers have postulated that modern friendships have lost the force and importance that they had in antiquity. C. S. Lewis for example, in his The Four Loves, writes:
"To the Ancients, Friendship seemed the happiest and most fully human of all loves; the crown of life and the school of virtue. The modern world, in comparison, ignores it. We admit of course that besides a wife and family a man needs a few 'friends'. But the very tone of the admission, and the sort of acquaintanceships which those who make it would describe as 'friendships', show clearly that what they are talking about has very little to do with that Philia which Aristotle classified among the virtues or that Amicitia on which Cicero wrote a book."
Likewise, Paul Halsall claims that:
"The intense emotional and affective relationships described in the past as "non-sexual" cannot be said to exist today: modern heterosexual men can be buddies, but unless drunk they cannot touch each other, or regularly sleep together. They cannot affirm that an emotional affective relationship with another man is the centrally important relationship in their lives. It is not going too far, is it, to claim that friendship – if used to translate Greek philia or Latin amicitia – hardly exists among heterosexual men in modern Western society."
Mark McLelland, writing under his Buddhist name of Dharmachari Jñanavira (Article), more directly points to homophobia being at the root of a modern decline in the western tradition of friendship:
"Hence, in our cultural context where homosexual desire has for centuries been considered sinful, unnatural and a great evil, the experience of homoerotic desire can be very traumatic for some individuals and severely limit the potential for same-sex friendship. The Danish sociologist Henning Bech, for instance, writes of the anxiety which often accompanies developing intimacy between male friends:
"'The more one has to assure oneself that one's relationship with another man is not homosexual, the more conscious one becomes that it might be, and the more necessary it becomes to protect oneself against it. The result is that friendship gradually becomes impossible.'"
Their opinion that fear of being, or being seen as, homosexual has killed off western man's ability to form close friendships with other men is shared by Japanese psychologist Doi Takeo, who claims that male friendships in American society are fraught with homosexual anxiety and thus homophobia is a limiting factor stopping men from establishing deep friendships with other men.
The suggestion that friendship contains an ineluctable element of erotic desire is not new, but has been advanced by students of friendship ever since the time of the ancient Greeks, where it comes up in the writings of Plato. More recently, the Austrian philosopher Otto Weininger claimed that:
"There is no friendship between men that has not an element of sexuality in it, however little accentuated it may be in the nature of the friendship, and however painful the idea of the sexual element would be. But it is enough to remember that there can be no friendship unless there has been some attraction to draw the men together. Much of the affection, protection, and nepotism between men is due to the presence of unsuspected sexual compatibility." (Sex and Character, 1903)
Recent western scholarship in gender theory and feminism concurs, as reflected in the writings of Eve Sedgwick in her The Epistemology of the Closet, and Jonathan Dollimore in his Sexual Dissidence and Cultural Change: Augustine to Wilde, Freud to Foucault


Developmental issues
In the sequence of the emotional development of the individual, friendships come after parental bonding and before the pair bonding engaged in at the approach of maturity. In the intervening period between the end of early childhood and the onset of full adulthood, friendships are often the most important relationships in the emotional life of the adolescent, and are often more intense than relationships later in life. However making friends seems to trouble lots of people; having no friends can be emotionally damaging in some cases. Sometimes going years without a single friend can lead to suicide.
A study by researches from Purdue University found that post secondary education (e.g. university) friendships last longer than the friendships before it.[citation needed]

Types of friendship
Acquaintance
Romantic friendship
Soulmate
Pen pal
Internet friendship
Comrade
Friends with benefits
Boston marriage
Blood brotherhood
Companionate love
Intimate relationship
Love
Platonic love
Romantic love
Open relationship
Roommate
Spiritual

Non-personal friendships
Although the term initially described relations between individuals, it is at times used for political purposes to describe relations between states or peoples ("the Franco-German friendship", for example), indicating in this case an affinity or mutuality of purpose between the two nations.
Regarding this aspect of international relations, Lord Palmerston said: "Nations have no permanent friends and no permanent enemies. Only permanent interests."
The word "friendship" can be used in political speeches as an emotive modifier. Friendship in international relationships often refers to the quality of historical, existing, or anticipated bilateral relationships.

Interspecies friendship and animal friendship
Friendship as a type of interpersonal relationship is found also among animals with high intelligence, such as the higher mammals and some birds. Cross-species friendships are common between humans and domestic animals. Less common but noteworthy are friendships between an animal and another animal of a different species, such as a dog and cat.
See also: ethology, altruism in animals, sociobiology

Colloquial terms
A number of colloquial terms have been used to describe friendship and the context in which a friendship is fostered. These are briefly described below.
A friend who supports others only when it is easy and convenient to do so is called a "fair-weather friend". A friend who supports their own friends through emotional difficulties is a "true friend." This term also denotes a large degree of altruism, in that the true friend often sacrifices something of his or her own (usually their time and resources) in order to help the friend in need. True friends also are known to be very rare. A true friend may not be your best friend but someone who you know will be there for you. Friends who are sexually intimate but don't consider themselves to be dating is said to be a "casual relationship". This is also referred to as being "friends with benefits". A "best friend" is a friend to whom one feels closest. It is usually implied that the relationship is reciprocal, but such is not always the case, and best friend relationships can often be very complex.

Friendship contrasted with comradeship
Friendship can be mistaken for comradeship. Comradeship is the feeling of affinity that draws people together in time of war or when people have a mutual enemy or even a common goal. Former New York Times war correspondent Chris Hedges wrote: "We feel in wartime comradeship. We confuse this with friendship, with love. There are those, who will insist that the comradeship of war is love — the exotic glow that makes us in war feel as one people, one entity, is real, but this is part of war's intoxication. As this feeling dissipated in the weeks after the attack, there was a kind of nostalgia for its warm glow and wartime always brings with it this comradeship, which is the opposite of friendship. Friends are predetermined; friendship takes place between men and women who possess an intellectual and emotional affinity for each other. But comradeship – that ecstatic bliss that comes with belonging to the crowd in wartime – is within our reach. We can all have comrades." [2] As a war ends, or a common enemy recedes, comrades return to being strangers, who lack friendship and have little in common.



Friendship section
Just to say that this friendship page is very interesting in many of the principles that it advances. It is true that there are many kinds of friendships and that some are limited because of societal standards; and it is such a special relationship when you can go beyond these standards, that I encourage everyone to experience it; then it is truly a bond where you can, without doubting it for a second, know that your friend will always be there for you. It is not even something that is said, it is just a fact, a deep trust and understanding between two similar and kind peoples, without any second thoughts or complicated or complex feelings. --DragonFly31 05:05, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
It seems like an easy thing to give but a difficult one to find. It has a lot to do with not seeing relationship as a business deal. Cheers, Haiduc 04:51, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
Well, if you mean by business deal giving something and expecting the same thing back, then I can see what you mean. But there are truly so many types of freindships -- more than the three stated by Aristotle for me. The type of friendship I said above is truly rare; it is also spontaneous, difficult to describe, but so pleasing -- these are nothing at all like business deals. --DragonFly31 05:05, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
Perhaps that's why they are so rare - in a world of shopkeepers. Haiduc 05:30, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
Very well said -- completely agree.--DragonFly31 15:40, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
I wonder whether that's why people are so fond of saying that a dog is man's best friend - because a good dog will offer you that kind of friendship, and people have forgotten that it can also exist between human beings, and don't seek it and don't offer it. Haiduc 23:41, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
You really hit the nail on the head -- I hesitated on giving the friendship between a man and a dog as an example (just because people can misinterpret that), but it is a similar kind of relationship to that which I described above. A trust and bond based on the natual wilingness of humans to know each other, the wish to support each other, and pleasure given by frienship (not in the way of a businessman as you put it but just a nice, simple, but very strong feeling), and also through this the willingness to help each other because we truly care about each other's welfare. Very rare feeling and fragile but so nice.--DragonFly31 17:59, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

Friendship in Russia
Hello, I live and Russia and I am not sure that information about friendship in Russia is correct and/or up to date. Never saw two men holding hands. Hugs are ok sometimes, more so in criminal spheres, or while intoxicated with alcohol. Speaking of general society of course, 'cause clouds of change and chaos are around Russia now, thus many subcultures arise especially among youth. --83.149.205.223 20:56, 30 May 2006 (UTC)explosion [31.05.2006 0:56]
Well, I'm from Russia... I also found the section strange/uncorrect. 1) I affirm user explosion 's info. 2) Naming a person with the diminutive form of his first name doesn't always involve real friendship, but is ok between e.g. acquainted students in university. Using full first name + patronymic name is polite, but between young people, relatives, etc. it would be just idiotic. ellol 11:32, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

phallocentric
why is the entry on friendship so focused on "male friendship"? well the literature on friendship is very phallocentric but at least the entry on friendship could discuss how and why it is so male centred.
I somewhat agree with this. Perhaps a section on the similarities and differences between male/male, male/female, and female/female friendships? Applejuicefool 14:55, 21 September 2006 (UTC)
Male/female friendships are acceptable, but differential and restrictive if the two agree to be "just friends" without going to the level of any romantic feelings towards the opposite sex (most romantic and marital relations began as "friends" first). Alike the fear of homophobia and "unmanliness", males in North American society don't want to appear "close", too interested or falsely accused of sexual harrassment or inappropriateness from occurring, again most opposite sex friendships are mutual.
I'm sure married men and women (couples or individuals) can have friendships, but it's not the same because of gender differences exist between them. Women rather talk about feminine issues among other women, but men are less open to other men on masculine issues and men/women may well be extra cautious on talking about gender identity with each other. It's frequently said women are able to develop stronger emotional bonds with each other that can last longer and more beneficial emotionally or spiritually.
It would be nice for men to understand how women go through pregnancy, menopause and feel subordinate in a male-dominated society. Also women need to see how men struggle to be "strong", tries to play a major role in family life and hold in emotion all the time. I believe a gender-equal/neutral society free of sexist attitudes about "girly men" or "butch women" but in line of a sense of equality can help male/female friendships, as well to keep marriages for a long time (over half of them end in divorce now) and two-parent families raising children together in shared responsibilities.
Male friends of women claim they can express more emotions and feelings, and felt they are brother-sister (siblings) to have no romantic or sexual attraction. Some women prefer to minimize male friendships if it bothers them or in a romantic/marital relationship that prohibits close casual amity with other males (most conservative cultures around the world, except for 21st century western societies has less gender stratification). Male-female friendships are more common than half a century ago, though the level of intimacy is restrictive in order not to cross the lines of sexuality. + 71.102.53.48 (talk) 06:00, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

Pic in the article
The pic should be replaced with mature people , I mean both sexes to remove bias and should not look like Kids Friendship.Holywarrior 16:48, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
Please don't add anymore pictures of smiling kids and dogs and stuff. It is irrelevant for the article. A picture like that does not add anything to the content of the article. Ehjort 11:05, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Camaraderie
Camaraderie redirects to friendship, yet it's mentioned in the article only once. The text says "A group of friends consists of two or more people who are in a mutually pleasing relationship engendering a sentiment of camaraderie, exclusivity and mutual trust." Now, if you were reading this text and had no idea what camaraderie meant (and you were browsing friendship, not camaraderie), wouldn't you want to click it and see what wikipedia has to say about camaraderie? It's a bit confusing, especially when it's used like that in the text. We should either change the word from the text to friendship, or somehow explain it. Thoughts? Pasi 12:53, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Cleanup
This article needs major cleanup, rewriting and structuring, in addition to the attention of an expert (sociologist/anthropologist); I also removed some vandalism. Will start work on this but know naught on topics such as friendship in russia, Japan etc. Ehjort 12:27, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
Will remove picture of "two friends" pretty soon. Ehjort 14:28, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
Done. Find a better picture if you like. Ehjort 16:35, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Friendship quotes
This long section was moved from the article beacause it is too much and does not realy belong in this article. Some of the content should be moved to wikiquote, some should be left on the talk page and something put back in the article. Ehjort 19:23, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
friend quotes "the only pure love in the world is that between bestfriends" --TJ Sanders [1991 - Present]
Friend Quotes & poems ...
You're... My Friend, my companion, through good times and bad my friend, my buddy, through happy and sad, beside me you stand, beside me you walk, you're there to listen, you're there to talk, with happiness, with smiles, with pain and tears, I know you'll be there, throughout the years!
Google's photo software. It's what should've come with your camera.
BEST FRIEND QUOTES :
"True friendship is like sound health, the value of it is seldom known until it is lost." - Charles Caleb Colton
"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out." - Anon
"Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Walk beside me and be my friend." - Albert Camus
"Friends are the bacon bits in the salad bowl of life." - Anon
"Friendship is one mind in two bodies." - Mencius
"If you should die before me, ask if you can bring a friend." - Stone Temple Pilots
"If all my friends were to jump off a bridge, I wouldn't jump with them, I would be at the bottom to catch them." - Anon
"Everyone hears what you say. Friends listen to what you say. Best friends listen to what you don't say." - Anon
"We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere." -Tim McGraw
"Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart." - Anon
"Surround yourself only with people who are going to lift you higher."
Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it is a comfort to go hand in hand." ~Emily Kimbrough~
"People are like stained glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within." ~Elizabeth Kubler-Ross~
If you have one true friend, you have more than your share. ~Thomas Fuller~
“When it hurts to look back, and you're scared to look ahead, you can look beside you and your best friend will be there.”
"Together forever, never apart. Maybe in distance, but never in heart.”
"Promise you won't forget me, because if I thought you would, I'd never leave." ~Winnie the Pooh~
"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out." ~Walter Winchell~
If all my friends were to jump off a bridge, I would not follow, I would be at the bottom to catch them when they fall. ~Source Unknown~
"If I had one gift that I could give you, my friend, it would be the ability to see yourself as others see you, because only then would you know how extremely special you are." ~B.A. Billingsly~
"A true friend is someone who knows there's something wrong even when you have the biggest smile on your face."
“The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you've ever had.” ~Unknown~
"It is by chance we met . . . By choice we became friends."
"Tears may come and go, But there's one thing I know. All my life you're a friend of mine. You can depend on me. I'll be fine... 'Cause you're a friend of mine." -Clarence Clemens
“One can't complain. I have my friends. Why, someone spoke to me only yesterday.” ~Eeyore~
“Friends are those rare people who ask how you are and then wait to hear the answer”
“How lucky I am to have known someone who was so hard to say goodbye to” ~Unknown~
"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light." ~Helen Keller~
"A circle is round it has no end, that's how long I want to be your friend!" ~Anonymous~
"It takes years to build up trust, and just seconds to destroy it." ~Source Unknown~
Some friends are simply irreplaceable. A true person easily becomes a true friend. True friendship is indeed rare. Some become our best friends....
Cute best friend sayings , Quotes for Best friends ....
"Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Walk beside me and be my friend."
I believe in angels, the kind that heaven sends. I'm surrounded by angels, but I call them my best friends."
"If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it."
"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out."
"Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Walk beside me and be my friend."
"A friend is someone who knows all about you... and loves you anyway."
"The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to them, their own."
"No love, no friendship, can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever."
"Friendship is one mind in two bodies."
"I live for the nights that I won't remember with the friends I will never forget."
"Friends are God's way of apologizing to us for our families."
"True friendship isn't seen with the eyes, it's felt with the heart."
"Friends are the people God gave us to keep us company... Best friends are the siblings God forgot to give us..."
A friend is one who knows us, but loves us anyway. -- Fr. Jerome Cummings
Remember, the greatest gift is not found in a store nor under a tree, but in the hearts of true friends. -- Cindy Lew
Who finds a faithful friend, finds a treasure. -- Jewish Saying
"Your friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you." -- Elbert Hubbard
"Who finds a faithful friend, finds a treasure." -- Jewish saying
What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. -- Aristotle
Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend.-- Albert Camus
"The only way to have a friend is to be one." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.-- Abraham Lincoln
Hold a true friend with both your hands. -- Nigerian Proverb
"A faithful friend is the medicine of life." -- Apocrypha
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same.-- Anonymous
Friends are like melons; shall I tell you why? To find one good you must one hundred try. -- Claude Mermet
"Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil." -- Baltasar Gracian (1647)
"Friendship needs no words..." -- Dag Hammarskjold.
"Friends are the sunshine of life." -- John Hay (1871)
"The best mirror is an old friend." --George Herbert
More Friendship quotes :
One who looks for a friend without faults will have none. -- Hasidic Saying
A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.-- Walter Winchell
Friends are needed both for joy and for sorrow. -- Samuel Paterson
Friendship is the golden thread that ties the heart of all the world.-- John Evelyn
Friendship doubles our joy and divides our grief.-- Swedish proverb
A friend hears the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.-- Anonymous
Count your age with friends but not with years - Anonymous
Plant a seed of friendship; reap a bouquet of happiness. -- Lois L. Kaufman
"I keep my friends as misers do their treasure, because, of all the things granted us by wisdom, none is greater or better than friendship." -- Pietro Aretino (1537)
"There is nothing worth the wear of winning, but laughter and the love of friends." -- Hillaire Belloc
"The rain may be falling hard outside, But your smile makes it all alright. I'm so glad that you're my friend. I know our friendship will never end." -- Robert Alan
"Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit." -- Aristotle (4th century B.C.)
"Friendship is essentially a partnership." -- Aristotle (4th century B.C.)
"Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe unto him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up." -- The Bible: Ecclesiastes 4:9-10.
"A friend loves at all times." -- The Bible: Proverbs 17, 17.
"A companion loves some agreeable qualities which a man may possess, but a friend loves the man himself." -- James Boswell (1763)
"Friendship is a strong and habitual inclination in two persons to promote the good and happiness of one another." -- Eustace Budgell (1711)
"Friendship is Love without his wings!" -- Lord Byron (1806)
"Friendship makes prosperity more brilliant, and lightens adversity by dividing and sharing it." -- Cicero (44 B.C.)
"True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost" -- Charles Caleb Colton (1825)
"Every man passes his life in the search after friendship." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"We do not so much need the help of our friends as the confidence of their help in need." -- Epicurus (3rd century B.C.)
"Friends show their love in times of trouble..." -- Euripides (408 B.C.)
"One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives." -- Euripides (408 B.C.)
"A good friend is my nearest relation." -- Thomas Fuller (1732)
"My friend is he who will tell me my faults in private." -- Solomon Ibn Gabirol
"Your friend is your needs answered." -- Kahil Gibran
"Let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit." -- Kahil Gibran.
"Let your best be for your friend..." -- Kahil Gibran
"In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures." -- Kahil Gibran
"A sympathetic friend can be quite as dear as a brother." -- Homer (9th century B.C.)
"We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over." -- Samuel Johnson
"However rare true love may be, it is less so than true friendship." -- La Rochefoucauld (1665)
"A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care to acquire." -- La Rochefoucauld (1665)
"I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For, who has sight so keen and strong That it can follow the flight of song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak I found the arrow, still unbroke; And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend." -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"You can make more friends in two months by becoming really interested in other people, than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you." -- Bernard Meltzer
"Love is rarer than genius itself. And friendship is rarer than love." -- Charles Peguy
"There can be no Friendship where there is no Freedom." -- William Penn
"No man is useless while he has a friend." -- Robert Louis Stevenson
"Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends whom we choose." -- Tehyi Hsieh
"Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with." -- Mark Twain
An honest answer is the sign of true friendship.-- Proverbs 24:26
"A true friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else." -- Len Wein
"You cannot be friends upon any other terms than upon the terms of equality." -- Woodrow Wilson
It is not what you give your friend, but what you are willing to give him that determines the quality of friendship. -- Mary Dixon Thayer
A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world. -- Leo Buscaglia
Advice from your friends in like the weather, some of it is good, some of it is bad. -Anonymous
It's the ones you can call up at 4:00 a.m. that really matter.-- Marlene Dietrich
Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen. -Samuel Paterson
Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty. -- Sicilian Proverb
Good friends are good for your health.-Irwin Sarason
The language of friendship is not words but meanings. -- Henry David Thoreau
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
I have lost friends, some by death, others through sheer inability to cross the street. - Virginia Woolf
Life is to be fortified by many friendships. To love and to be loved is the greatest happiness of existence. -Sydney Smith
In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. -Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business. -- Mahatma Gandhi
One of the surest evidences of friendship that one individual can display to another is telling him gently of a fault. If any other can excel it, it is listening to such a disclosure with gratitude, and amending the error.-- Edward Bulwer-Lytton
A true friend is one who overlooks your failures and tolerates your success!-- Doug Larson
A true friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else. -- Len Wein
Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends. -- Czech. Proverb
Friendship is to be purchased only by friendship. A man may have authority over others, but he can never have their hearts but by giving his own. -- Thomas Wilson
Cute Friendship Quotes :
Love starts with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a tear.
Don't cry over anyone who won't cry over you. Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget. You can only go as far as you push. Actions speak louder than words. The hardest thing to do is watch the one you love, love somebody else. Don't let the past hold you back; you're missing the good stuff. Life's short. If you don't look around once in a while, you might miss it. A best friend is like a four leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have. If you think that the world means nothing, think again. You might mean the world to someone else. When it hurts to look back, and you're scared to look ahead, you can look beside you and your best friend will be there True friendship never ends. Friends are forever. Good friends are like stars....You don't always see them, but you know they are always there. Don't frown. You never know who is falling in love with your smile. What do you do when the only person who can make you stop crying is the person who made you cry? NOBODY IS PERFECT UNTIL YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH THEM. (Isn't that the truth?) Everything is okay in the end. If it's not okay, then it's not the end. Most people walk in and out of you life. But only friends leave footprints in your heart. Send this on to everyone special in your life, even the people who really make you mad sometimes. Whether we realize it or not, everyone we know is very special to us. When we look back on our younger years, we will remember the people who went to school with us, the people who made us laugh, the people who hung out with us when nobody else would, and the people who made our lives much better simply by being a part of it.
There may be somebody who is thinking about you RIGHT NOW and wishing that you were around. That's the wonderful thing about friendship-you always feel loved and cared about.
The most important thing to remember is... Always appreciate the friends that you have. A fight may come and go very easily, but a friendship could last forever. For every second spent in anger, a minute of happiness is wasted. So send this to your friends and let them know that you care