Times change, people change, and it can become increasingly difficult to keep contact with those who you once consider your very best friends. Here are some famous quotes and thoughts on the topic of what it is to be a “best friend” and perspective on what it can mean.

1. My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.

Henry Ford

2. Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness.

Euripides

3. My best friend is the man who in wishing well wishes it for my sake.

Aristotle

4. Music really helps me. It’s like a best friend.

El DeBarge

5. One of the most beautiful qualities of friendship is to understand and to be understood.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

6. I would rather walk with a friend in the dark than alone in the light.

Helen Keller

7. Friends are the siblings that god never gave us.

Mencius

8. A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.

Walter Winchell

9. It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

10. Rare is true live. True friendship is rarer.

Jean de La Fontaine

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Rare Friendship Quotes

It’s incredibly hard to find someone who can understand us and accept us for who we are. This is likely because of how unique we are. We have different upbringings, different cultures, different languages and preferences that often serve to separate us. It’s a wonderful thing when you find someone who shares the same “differences” and works to understand the rest.

11. A good friend is like a four-leaf clover; hard to find and lucky to have.

Irish Proverb

12. Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.

Muhammad Ali

13. It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

14. One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives.

Euripides

15. Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Albert Camus

16. The language of friendship is not words but meanings.

Henry David Thoreau

17. If you have one true friend you have more than your share.

Thomas Fuller

18. Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?

Abraham Lincoln

19. A friend to all is a friend to none.

Aristotle

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Quotes About New & Old Friends

Take the first step and be the first person to say “hi!”. You have to put yourself out there and be a true friend if you want one in return. Each friendship takes time, dedication, pain, and sacrifice to make and keep. Make sure that you are ready to give as much as you take when deciding on the endeavor of a friendship.

21. Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends.

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

22. A true friend is one who overlooks your failures and tolerates your success.

Doug Larson

23. There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met.

William Butler Yeats

24. Depth of friendship does not depend on length of acquaintance.

Rabindranath Tagore

25. A true friend freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably.

William Penn

26. Of all possessions a friend is the most precious.

Herodotus

27. It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.

Confucius

28. True friendship can afford true knowledge. It does not depend on darkness and ignorance.

Henry David Thoreau

29. A man’s friendships are one of the best measures of his worth.

Charles Darwin

30. My friends are my estate.

Emily Dickinson

True Friendship Quotes

Real friends should never have to hide their true feelings or motives. Be honest with your friends with what you are thinking and take their feedback seriously, even if it is in disagreement with your own opinions. Your friends can often save you from a terrible decisions so bee sure to consult then before big decisions.

31. True friendship ought never to conceal what it thinks.

St. Jerome

32. True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it is lost.

Charles Caleb Colton

33. A quarrel between friends, when made up, adds a new tie to friendship.

Saint Francis de Sales

34. The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend.

Henry David Thoreau

35. The friendship that can cease has never been real.

St. Jerome

36. Suspicion is the cancer of friendship.

Petrarch

37. Friendship consists in forgetting what one gives and remembering what one receives.

Alexandre Dumas

38. A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow.

William Shakespeare (Maybe)

39. An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.

Buddha

40. Friends are the family you choose.

Jess C. Scott

Stand By Your Friend Quotes

As much as we tend to value and going to objects and possessions in our life, it’s very likely that friends are the most valuable pieces we could ever hope to hold on to. Forget about that fancy car, you can’t take it with you to the next life anyways.

41. Never leave a friend behind. Friends are all we have to get us through this life–and they are the only things from this world that we could hope to see in the next.

Dean Koontz

42. Do not save your loving speeches. For your friends till they are dead; Do not write them on their tombstones, Speak them rather now instead.

Anna Cummins

43. A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.

Elbert Hubbard

44. There’s not a word yet, for old friends who’ve just met.

Jim Henson

45. The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.

Bob Marley

46. “I wonder what Piglet is doing,” thought Pooh.
“I wish I were there to be doing it, too.”

A.A. Milne

47. The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.

Charles Dickens

48. Your friends will know you better in the first minute you meet than your acquaintances will know you in a thousand years.

Richard Bach

49. Time doesn’t take away from friendship, nor does separation.

Tennessee Williams

50. A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.

Bernard Meltzer

Honest Best Friends Quotes

A true friend will not be afraid to disagree with you from time to time. They will try to give you their honest opinion even if it causes distress and conflict between you. Your acquaintances, however, will likely not care enough to get into an argument with you and just passively nod along.

51. I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.

Plutarch

52. A good friend is a connection to life – a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world.

Lois Wyse

53. The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend.

Aristotle

54. Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief

Marcus Tullius Cicero

55. Tis a great confidence in a friend to tell him your faults; greater to tell him his.

Benjamin Franklin

56. Two things you will never have to chase: True friends & true love.

Mandy Hale

57. We know from daily life that we exist for other people first of all, for whose smiles and well-being our own happiness depends.

Albert Einstein

58. We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.

William James

59. Without friends, no one would want to live, even if he had all other goods.

Aristotle

60. To throw away an honest friend is, as it were, to throw your life away

Sophocles

61. The better part of one’s life consists of his friendships.

Abraham Lincoln

62. Two persons cannot long be friends if they cannot forgive each other’s little failings.

Jean de La Bruyère

63. Friends… they cherish one another’s hopes. They are kind to one another’s dreams.

Henry David Thoreau

64. The shifts of fortune test the reliability of friends.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

65. The real friendship is like fluorescence, it shines better when everything has darken.

Rabindranath Tagore

66. I don’t like to commit myself about Heaven and Hell, you see, I have friends in both places.

Mark Twain

67. True friendship is never serene.

Marquise de Sevigne

68. We’ll be friend ’til we’re old and senile. … Then we’ll be new friends!

Anonymous

Love this silly quote about friendship. Deep down I hope we can stay with our best friends forever… Even if one day we forget them or they pass on that we’ll all be together again one day.

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BFF Quotes to Live By

Finding close friends and BFFs can make your life significantly more enjoyable. Keep in mind that real friends that are compatible and loyal to you are likely few and far between. It takes time and luck to find friends that will stay with you forever. Your greatest friends will work to inspire you, keep you strong, and hold you down when you’re hurt emotionally. Here are our favorite best friend quotes and images updated for 2021!

69. Life is an awful, ugly place to not have a best friend.

Sarah Dessen

70. Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.

C.S. Lewis

71. What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.

Aristotle

72. No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.

Alice Walker

73. If you have good friends, no matter how much life is sucking , they can make you laugh.

P.C. Cast

74. Stay is a charming word in a friend’s vocabulary.

Amos Bronson Alcott

75. The best mirror is an old friend.

George Herbert

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

Aristotle

77. A friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face.

Maya Angelou

78. It’s important to make sure that we’re talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds.

Barack Obama

Being together on the darkest of nights is better than suffering alone on the brightest day. Life is full of rough patches and highlights. Be careful in choosing friends who are only there with you in “the light” when things are going well. Be grateful to the friends who are willing to stick by you through the dark times.

79. Friendship is like money, easier made than kept.

Samuel Butler

80. Friendship is thinking of the other person first.

George Alexiou

Jealousy is a part of human nature and it’s easy to envy what others have. It’s especially easy to compare ourselves with those in proximity and think of all the things we don’t have. As the saying goes, “the grass is always greener on the other side”. A true friend will be able to be sincerely happy for your successes.

81. When we make friends then we change from being animals to being human.

Stephen Richards

At the heart of all human connection is the need and want to understand one another. A true friend is someone who can understand who you are for who you really are. We are often incentivized to put on masks for society in such environments as work, school, family, and other gatherings. Your best friends will allow you to be yourself and work to understand who you really are.

82. Without a best friend to tell stories to, it almost didn’t matter if they even happened.

Leila Howland

Hardships and setbacks are often a good way of separating fair-weather friends. It’s easy to find friends and company when you are doing socially, financially, and mentally well. It’s only when you’re down and out that you’ll see who will stick with you through the rough patches and provide sympathy and condolences. A true friend will stay with you through the storms and road bumps of life. A true friend can help provide you some peace of mind when you’re going through an emotional storm.

83. The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.

Epictetus

You are a reflection of the people that you keep around you. Keep company that brings out the best in you, advises you sincerely on important matters, and isn’t afraid of confronting you when you’re in the wrong. Your best friend bring out your most “true” self, which hopefully, also means your “best” self. Sometimes you need to focus on yourself and a good friend can often help you introspect.

84. Sometimes me think, ‘What is friend?’ and then me say, ‘Friend is someone to share the last cookie with.’”

Cookie Monster

Stand by your best friends

If you’re lucky enough to find one good friend who understands, appreciates, and stands by you through tough times then consider yourself some of the most fortunate people on earth. Our best friends are the people who make life worth living. They make the worst days a little brighter and the saddest times bearable.

Hope you’ll send something nice to a friend today,

Bb

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