130 Quotes About Friendship

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Last Updated on April 5, 2021

According to studies good social relationships and connections seem to be a “necessary condition for a happy life!” You've probably experienced that the biggest pain is more bearable with good friends. You know that the greatest joy is even more beautiful if you share it with soulmates. A strong network of a few people that are really important to you is the key to authentic happiness.

friendship quotes

But what is friendship anyway? And what maybe not? How can you better stay in touch with your friends? Many people through the centuries have already put a lot of thought on this topic. I have categorized some of their best words of wisdom and put them together as impulses for you.

Let these deep, beautiful, famous, long distance, cute, short, funny or true friendship quotes inspire you or perhaps even challenge you to cultivate better relationships. My hope is that they can motivate you to get over those possible fears and reconnect.

Then you might want to carry your favorite quotes around with you. That's why I have created a free ebook as pdf with the best quotes and beautiful images. Below you can download the inspiring ebook without email signup.

Good relationships need attention

friendship quotes - compliment friendship quote
“Most friendships begin with a compliment.”
Peter M. Brown

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
Dale Carnegie

“Friendship is always a sweet responsibility never an opportunity.”
Kahlil Gibran

'Friendship demands attention.' Sir Thomas MoreClick To Tweet

“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.”
Henry James

“Whenever you’re in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is the attitude.”
William James

Further Reading: 39 good attitude quotes to stop negative thinking


Compassion and understanding

friendship quotes - compassion quote
“Friendships begin because, even without words, we understand how someone feels.”
Joan Walsh Anglund

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one.'”
CS Lewis

“I think for any relationship to be successful, there needs to be loving communication, appreciation, and understanding.”
Miranda Kerr

'One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.' Lucius Annaeus Seneca Click To Tweet

“Friendship is a living thing that lasts only as long as it is nourished with kindness, empathy, and understanding.”
Author Unknown


Slow growth

friendship quotes - old friend quote
“It takes a long time to grow an old friend.”
John Leonard

“Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.”
Benjamin Franklin

“The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.”
Elisabeth Foley

'Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm & constant.' SocratesClick To Tweet

“Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations. Don’t over-analyze your relationships. Stop playing games. A growing relationship can only be nurtured by genuineness.”
Leo F. Buscaglia

“True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.”
George Washington


Tactfulness

friendship quotes - friendship closes eyes quote
“Love is blind friendship closes its eyes.”
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

It is wise to apply the oil of refined politeness to the mechanisms of friendship.”
Colette, The Pure and the Impure, 1932

“What you do not want to be done to yourself, do not do to others.”
Confucius

'Never tell your friends, 'I told you so' - even when you did.' Wendy Jean SmithClick To Tweet

If it’s very painful for you to criticize your friends — you’re safe in doing it. But if you take the slightest pleasure in it, that’s the time to hold your tongue.”
Alice Duer Miller

“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”
Carl W. Buechner

A good word is an easy obligation; but not to speak ill requires only our silence; which costs us nothing.”
John Tillotson

Further Reading: 91 habit quotes about positive change


Respect

friendship quotes - friendship quote
“I think the way to keep a friendship is to respect that everybody is different.”
Emma Bunton

“Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and have her nonsense respected.”
Charles Lamb

“You can always tell a real friend: when you’ve made a fool of yourself he doesn’t feel you’ve done a permanent job.”
Laurence J. Peter

'He removes the greatest ornament of friendship, who takes away from it respect.' CiceroClick To Tweet

“Friendships, like marriages, are dependent on avoiding the unforgivable.”
John D. MacDonald

“When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are.”
Donald Miller

“Real friends don't agree on everything they just respect each other's right to have their own opinion.”
Sonya Parker

“Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky.”
Rainer Maria Rilke


Shelter and the feeling of safety

friendship quotes - shelter quote
“Friendship is the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words.”
George Eliot

“It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m.”
Marlene Dietrich

“Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness.”
Euripides

“Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.”
Helen Keller

'When someone allows you to bear his burdens, you have found deep friendship.' Real Live PreacherClick To Tweet

“Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.”
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey


Joy and happiness

sweetest joys quote
“Friendship is one of the sweetest joys of life. Many might have failed beneath the bitterness of their trial had they not found a friend.”
Charles Spurgeon

“Of all the things which wisdom provides to make us entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship.”
Epicurus

“And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and the sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.”
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

'Friendship improves happiness and reduces misery, by doubling our joys and dividing our grief.' Joseph AddisonClick To Tweet

“Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

“Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.”
Swedish Proverb

“True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and their value.”
Benjamin Johnson

Further Reading: 100 being happy quotes to unlock the key to happiness


Support personal growth

friendship horizon quote
“Friendship is a horizon – which expands whenever we approach it.”
E. R. Hazlip

“True friends stab you in the front.”
Oscar Wilde

“Friends… they cherish one another's hopes. They are kind to one another's dreams.”
Henry David Thoreau

“We can improve our relationships with others by leaps and bounds if we become encouragers instead of critics.”
Joyce Meyer

'No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.' Henry FordClick To Tweet

“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

“People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that’s what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life.”
Elizabeth Gilbert

“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.”
Carl Jung

Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great.”
Mark Twain


Altruism

altruism quote
“Friendship without self-interest is one of the rare and beautiful things of life.”
James F. Byrnes

“There is no friendship in trade.”
Cornelius Vanderbilt

“If we would build on a sure foundation in friendship, we must love friends for their sake rather than for our own.”
Charlotte Bronte

'Friendship is selfless love, care, respect, and honor not a profitable opportunity.' Santosh KalwarClick To Tweet

Approaching people looking for something in return isn't a relationship, it's a transaction.
Mark Manson

“The finest kind of friendship is between people who expect a great deal of each other but never ask it.”
Sylvia Bremer


Preciousness

precious friendship quote
“Friendship is precious, not only in the shade but in the sunshine of life.”
Thomas Jefferson

“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.”
Walter Winchell

“Friendships are fragile things, and require as much handling as any other fragile and precious thing.”
Randolph Silliman Bourne

'Of all possessions a friend is the most precious.' HerodotusClick To Tweet

“However successful you are, there is no substitute for a close relationship. We all need them.”
Francesca Annis

“Spiritual relationship is far more precious than physical. Physical relationship divorced from spiritual is a body without a soul.”
Mahatma Gandhi

Real friendship, like real poetry, is extremely rare – and precious as a pearl.”
Tahar Ben Jelloun


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Learning and knowledge

deep friendship quote
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
Carl Jung

“I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.”
Walt Whitman

“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.”
Ernest Hemingway

'Love comes from blindness, friendship from knowledge.' Comte DeBussy-RabutinClick To Tweet

“You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships every day. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.”
Epicurus

“The better you know yourself, the better your relationship with the rest of the world.”
Toni Collette

“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

“There is a magnet in your heart that will attract true friends. That magnet is unselfishness, thinking of others first; when you learn to live for others, they will live for you.”
Paramahansa Yogananda

Further reading: 77 learning quotes and education sayings


The world, society, and humanity

friendship my world quote
 “A single rose can be my garden… a single friend, my world.”
Leo Buscaglia

“Wherever we are it is our friends that make our world.”
Henry Drummond

Friendship is the highest degree of perfection in society.”
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

'Friendship is the golden thread that ties the hearts of all hearts of all the world.' John EvelynClick To Tweet

“One’s friends are that part of the human race with which one can be human.”
George Santayana

Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.”
Woodrow T. Wilson

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”
Anais Nin

Further Reading: 150 positive life quotes on happiness, love, and success.


Kind of love…

love and friendship quote
“Friendship is…the sort of love one can imagine between angels.”
Clive Staples Lewis

“All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon sand.”
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.”
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

“To say that one waits a lifetime for his soulmate to come around is a paradox. People eventually get sick of waiting, take a chance on someone, and by the art of commitment become soulmates, which takes a lifetime to perfect.”
Criss Jami

'The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love.' Hubert H. HumphreyClick To Tweet

“Love, friendship, networking – these are all critical connections and the foundation of a healthy, happy life.”
Whitney Wolfe Herd

“Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you. Love me and I may be forced to love you.”
William Arthur Ward

“How many slams in an old screen door? Depends how loud you shut it. How many slices in a bread? Depends how thin you cut it. How much good inside a day? Depends how good you live ’em. How much love inside a friend? Depends how much you give ’em.”
Shel Silverstein

Further Reading: 78 cute love quotes for her and him (+pictures)


Self-Love

short friendship quote

“If you make friends with yourself, you will never be alone.”
Maxwell Maltz

“A friend is a gift you give yourself.”
Robert Louis Stevenson

“I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy.”
Whitney Houston

Before you find your soul mate, you must first discover your soul.
Charles F. Glassman

'Friendship with oneself is all-important because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world.' Eleanor RooseveltClick To Tweet

“It is of practical value to learn to like yourself. Since you must spend so much time with yourself you might as well get some satisfaction out of the relationship.”
Norman Vincent Peale

“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”
Mahatma Gandhi

“I'm not interested in dating. I like being with my own best friend, me. Certain women, particularly older women, cannot believe I like going to a social event by myself. But I do.”
Gloria Allred

Further Reading: 57 best self-worth and self-love quotes


Best friend quotes

true friendship quote
“True friendship is seen through the heart and not through the eyes.”
Unknown

My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.”
Henry Ford

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

I have a best friend in my life who I know is my soulmate.”
Lili Reinhart

'Things are never quite as scary when you've got a best friend.' Bill WattersonClick To Tweet

“The soul mate doesn’t have to be a romantic relationship. Sometimes in life, you meet people when you need them, and there is an immediate connection.”
Alison G. Bailey

“Maybe our girlfriends are our soulmates and guys are just people to have fun with.”
Candace Bushnell

“The biggest ingredient in a best friend is someone whose actions you respect and who you can truly be yourself around.”
Renee Olstead

“I believe in soulmates, yes, but I believe you also have to work at love. I happen to believe your soulmate doesn't have to be your partner – your soulmate could be your best friend, your sibling, it doesn't have to be the person you marry.”
Cheryl Cole


Loyality

friendship quote euripides
“One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives.”
Euripides

“A friend to all is a friend to none.”
Aristotle

“Loyalty is what we seek in friendship.”
Cicero

Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.”
Oprah Winfrey

'A true friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else.' Len WeinClick To Tweet

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

“A loyal friend laughs at your jokes when they’re not so good, and sympathizes with your problems when they’re not so bad.”
Arnold H. Glasgow


Gratitude and thankfulness thoughts

famous friendship quote
“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.”
Albert Schweitzer

“Be true to yourself, help others, make each day your masterpiece, make friendship a fine art, drink deeply from good books – especially the Bible, build a shelter against a rainy day, give thanks for your blessings and pray for guidance every day.”
John Wooden

'True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it is lost.' Charles Caleb ColtonClick To Tweet



“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.”
C. S. Lewis

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
Marcel Proust

Further Reading: 85 best gratitude quotes and thankful sayings


Funny quotes

funny friendship quote
A true friend is someone who thinks you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.
Bernard Meltzer

“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emerson in His Journals

“Do you know why dogs are man's best friend? It's because they're not in politics.”
Yitzhak Navon

'The richer your friends the more they will cost you.' Elizabeth MarburyClick To Tweet

If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you.”
Winnie the Pooh

Men kick friendship around like a football, but it doesn't seem to crack. Women treat it like glass and it goes to pieces.”
Anne Spencer Morrow Lindbergh


Stand the test of time

long time friends quote
“No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are throughout persuaded of each other's worth.”
Robert Southey

“The best time to make friends is before you need them.”
Ethel Barrymore

“A friend is what the heart needs all the time.”
Henry Van Dyke

Growing apart doesn’t change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. I’m glad for that.”
Ally Condie

'Friendships that have stood the test of time and change are surely best.' Joseph ParryClick To Tweet

“Those truly linked don't need correspondence, When they meet again after many years apart, their friendship is as true as ever.”
Deng Ming-Dao

“Giving someone a piece of your soul is better than giving a piece of your heart. Because souls are eternal.”
Helen Boswel

“Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over.”
Gloria Naylor

Further Reading: 45 procrastination quotes and sayings for a better time-management


Nothing is a substitute for in-person connections

I hope you enjoyed reading all 130 inspirational quotations like I did when I curated them for you. Did you know that loneliness causes more deaths than obesity or smoking? With all the social media around us, it is important to remember that nothing is a substitute for in-person connections.

To further nurture your friendships I’ve prepared a special gift for you, that will lift your spirits immediately.


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Click through and download my FREE inspirational book about friendship as a pdf-file. (no email signup needed!) It contains a great selection of inspirational picture quotes about friendship. And the best…you can get it also as a Paperback gift book on Amazon. That way you can gift this touching and thought-provoking book to a friend.

free friendship quotes book

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