Friendship and 11 Memorable and Inspired Quotes

Friendship is both one of the most valued and the most undervalued human attributes. If you don't have them, you want them. If you do have them, people often don't realize or put in words the meaning of a good friend. They may take a friend for granted and not even truly grasp their worth in a life until they aren't around anymore. We have become a very mobile society and when a good friend moves away, gets ill or is lost to us for one reason or another, a hole is left in our lives. We also become so busy in our everyday struggle to survive and exist that until we need them, we don't truly give credit to their place in our lives. In the rush of our daily existence, even though a friend may not be forgotten, we often neglect to let them know that they make a difference in our lives.

Masses of books, movies , poetry and lyrics have been written on the subject and what is a friend to each of us may differ greatly. There are different levels of friendship. Some, although important too, are merely acquaintances who come and go and others carry a much deeper wealth and significance in our lives. For those who are blessed enough to have a loyal friend, they are always as a part of our lives and even though there may be rough patches to go through, they are the ones who stick with you. They are also the ones you want around you for the good things that happen. The true test of a real friend is if they still remain when others flee or turn from you in an hour of need, when things are not easy or fun. If you are lucky enough to have more than one friend, you are doubly blessed.

True friendship is not one sided. To have one, you have to be one, even when it is not easy to be. This gift , and it is a gift, is something you earn over time and create a history together that only the two, or group of friends would truly understand. We human beings are less than perfect and in the course of our lives experience great joy and great sorrow and everything in between. A loyal friend is there through all of these life experiences. You know things about each other that you wouldn't want the rest of the world to know and they do not sit in judgment whether you are wrong or right. They are someone you trust with what is most important to you, and that trust is not given lightly, it is valued and respected by a real friend.

Don't forget to let a friend know what they mean to you once in awhile. Here are a few thoughts to reflect upon.

"There are three types of friends: those like food, without which you can't live; those like medicine, which you need occasionally; and those like an illness, which you never want."

-Solomon Ibn Gabriol

"It is the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter."

-Marlene Dietrich

"In prosperity it is very easy to find a friend; in adversity, nothing is so difficult.

-Epictetus

"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

"Each had his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by heart; and his friends could only read the title."

-Virginia Woolf

"The most I can do for my friend is to simply be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this?"
-Henry David Thoreau

"Being a good friend, and having a good friend, can enrich your days and bring you lifelong satisfaction. But friendships don't just happen. They have to be created and nurtured. Like any other skill, building friendship has to be practiced."

-Sue Browder

"Constant use has not worn ragged the fabric of their friendship."

-Dorothy Parker

" A friend knows how to allow for mere quantity in your talk, and only replies to the quality."

-William Dean Howells

"Friendships multiply joys, and divide griefs."

-Henry George Bohn

"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."

-George - Santayana

Try sharing one of these quotes with a friend when they cross your mind.