A Little Book of Friendship Page 2

  ‘You can’t stay in your

  corner of the forest waiting

  for others to come to you.

  You have to go to them

  sometimes.’

  —A.A. Milne

  ‘It requires a long time to

  know any one.’

  —Cervantes

  ‘If you live to be a

  hundred, I want to live to

  be a hundred minus one

  day so I never have to live

  without you.’

  —A.A. Milne

  ‘Good friends, good books,

  and a sleepy conscience:

  this is the ideal life.’

  —Mark Twain

  ‘It’s the friends you can

  call up at 4 a.m. that

  matter.’

  —Marlene Dietrich

  ‘I would rather walk with

  a friend in the dark, than

  alone in the light.’

  —Helen Keller

  ‘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

  ‘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

  ‘Can miles truly separate

  you from friends… If you

  want to be with someone

  you love, aren’t you already

  there?’

  —Richard Bach

  ‘The best mirror is an old

  friend.’

  —George Herbert

  ‘The glory of friendship is

  not the outstretched hand,

  not the kindly smile, nor

  the joy of companionship;

  it is the spiritual

  inspiration that comes to

  one when you discover that

  someone else believes in

  you and is willing to trust

  you with a friendship.’

  —Ralph Waldo Emerson

  My friend Pitambar was

  found one night dancing

  in the middle of the road.

  ‘Why are you dancing in

  the road?’ I asked.

  ‘Because I am happy,’

  he said.

  ‘And why are you

  so happy?’

  He looked at me as if I

  were a moron.

  ‘Because I am dancing

  in the road,’ he said.

  ‘If thou hast a loaf of

  bread, sell half and buy the

  flowers of the narcissus; for

  bread nourisheth the body,

  but the narcissus the soul.’

  —Mohammed

  ‘All people live, not by

  reason of any care they

  have for themselves, but by

  the love for them that is in

  other people.’

  —Leo Tolstoy

  Friendship is all about

  doing things together.

  It may be climbing a

  mountain, fishing in a

  mountain stream, cycling

  along a country road,

  camping in a forest

  clearing or simply travelling

  together and sharing the

  experiences that a new

  place can bring.

  ‘Anybody can sympathize

  with the sufferings of a

  friend, but it requires

  a very fine nature to

  sympathize with a

  friend’s success.’

  —Oscar Wilde

  ‘Wishing to be friends is

  quick work, but friendship

  is a slow ripening fruit.’

  —Aristotle

  ‘I don’t need a friend who

  changes when I change

  and who nods when I nod;

  my shadow does that

  much better.’

  —Plutarch

  There is no law that can

  replace goodwill.

  ‘Are you upset, little

  friend? Have you been

  lying awake worrying? Well,

  don’t worry…I’m here. The

  flood waters will recede,

  the famine will end, the

  sun will shine tomorrow,

  and I will always be here to

  take care of you.’

  —Charles M. Schulz

  There’s a sweet little girl

  that lives down the lane,

  And she’s so pretty and I’m

  so plain,

  She’s clever and smart and

  all things good,

  And I’m the bad boy of the

  neighbourhood.

  But I’d be her best friend

  forever and a day

  If only she’d smile and

  look my way.

  We must love someone

  If we are to justify

  our presence on this earth.

  We must keep loving all

  our days,

  someone, anyone, anywhere

  outside our selves.

  Happy is he whose heart

  sees more clearly than

  his eyes.

  Ivy: You are friendship,

  fellowship and fidelity.

  You stand for permanence.

  Zinnia: You bring me

  thoughts of absent friends.

  —‘The Message of the Flowers’

  ‘Perfect affection can only

  endure between man and

  beast. Between human

  beings lurks always some

  antagonism.’

  —S.H. Kessels

  ‘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

  ‘A man without a smiling

  face must not open

  a shop.’

  —Chinese proverb

  In a sense, every man and

  woman is an island. But

  life can be very lonely on

  our individual islands. We

  need to reach out, touch

  each other, feel the warmth

  of another personality,

  enjoy another’s company,

  recognize a kindred spirit—

  find a friend! And then,

  you are no longer an

  island.

  ‘On the whole, a tree is the

  most sympathetic object in

  nature, not so awfully set as

  the mountains, not so fickle

  and treacherous as the sea,

  more substantial than the

  clouds, not so perishable as

  the grass and flowers—always

  there, steadfast and strong,

  with its shifting lights and

  shadows, soft sighing or

  brisk tossing, or drenched

  brightness, seeming to

  enter into every mood of

  its friends.’

  —Ethel Daniels Hubbard

  ‘Friendship is a sheltering

  tree,’ wrote Coleridge.

  And how often we

  compare friendship to

  a tree—steadfast, sturdy,

  comforting, ever present:

  until we cut it down.

  Blessed is the house upon

  whose walls

  the shade of an old tree

  gently falls.

  ‘False friends are common.

  Yes, but where

  True nature links a

  friendly pair,

  The blessing is as rich

  as rare.’

  —The Panchatantra

  ‘I am fond of pigs. Dogs

  look up to us. Cats look

  down on us. Pigs treat us

  as equals.’

  —Winston Churchill

  Turn off your TV,

  Shut down your computer,

  Step out of your house,

  Make new friends!

  ‘Wherever you go, go with

  all your heart.’

  —Confucius

  ‘Friend Butterfly

  Oh what a butterfly with

  beautiful colours!

  I wish she’d come here

  And be my best friend.

  I’d teach her how to count

  and read

  And write, the way

  Our teacher taught us.’

  —Rwandan children’s song

  ‘A friend is a person with

  whom I may be sincere.’

  —Ralph Waldo Emerson

  ‘Make this night loveable,

  Moon, and with eye single

  Looking down from up

  there,

  Bless me, One especial

  And friends everywhere.’

  —W.H. Auden

  Some of the moving forces

  of our lives are meant to

  touch us briefly and go

  their way.

  ‘The wolf will dwell with

  the lamb, and the leo
pard

  will lie down with the kid,

  the calf and the young

  lion will grow up together;

  and a little child will lead

  them.’

  —Isaiah 11:6

  ‘Don’t you see that that

  blessed conscience of yours

  is nothing but other people

  inside you?’

  —Luigi Pirandello

  ‘I like trees because they

  seem more resigned to the

  way they have to live than

  other things do.’

  —Willa Cather

  Beyond the last inhabited

  place on earth, there are

  still friends: there are fish

  and birds and insects and

  shrubs, and the sun, the

  moon and stars.

  ‘In giving advice, seek

  to help, not please your

  friend.’

  —Solon

  ‘Your only guard against

  the scourge of pomposity

  is the truth-telling of a

  friend.’

  —Jerry Pinto

  The full moon keeps

  coming back again and

  again, but who complains?

  It’s like the visits of an old

  friend—always on time, and

  always welcome.

  ‘I will confess and I will

  not deny that the chief

  pleasure I know is the

  contemplation of my fellow

  beings.’

  —Hilaire Belloc

  ‘May God be praised for

  woman

  That gives up all her mind,

  A man may find in no man

  A friendship of her kind…’

  —W.B. Yeats

  ‘If you meet a tiger and

  call him “Uncle”, he will

  let you pass unharmed.’

  —Tribal lore

  ‘Love can be blind;

  friendship cannot; it

  owes it to itself not to be;

  and one can even go as

  far as to like a friend’s

  shortcomings, but in order

  to help him know them.’

  —Andre Gide

  ‘Some people go to priests;

  others to poetry; I to my

  friends.’

  —Virginia Woolf

  The break of monsoon in

  the hot plains, the warmth

  of the winter sun in the

  hills, a colourful sunset,

  a good book or film, the

  shade of a mighty tree,

  birdsong, good fortune,

  the evening drink. These

  are sweet gifts of life, but

  sweeter when they can be

  shared with a friend.

  ‘The pleasures of

  friendship are exquisite,

  How pleasant to go to a

  friend on a visit!

  I go to my friend, we walk

  on the grass,

  And the hours and

  moments like minutes

  pass.’

  —Stevie Smith

  ‘I can see my friends

  laughing and talking, but

  I cannot hear them. I live

  in a world of perpetual

  silence. But I know from

  their expressions that they

  are happy, and that they

  wish to share their joy with

  me.’

  —Letter from a deaf friend

  Friends can be helpful,

  but sometimes it is better

  to go alone. Real pioneers

  do not care whether or not

  they are followed; they go

  forward without looking

  back.

  Your presence is

  reassuring—like a firefly in

  the night.

  ‘Friendship is the

  inexpressible comfort of

  feeling safe with a person,

  having neither to weigh

  thoughts nor measure words.’

  —Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot)

  ‘Food for one is enough

  for two.’

  —Tunisian proverb

  ‘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

  When you find a true

  friend, and keep him, you

  make friends with yourself.

  ‘The most I can do for my

  friend is simply to 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 Thoreau

  ‘If your friend is honey, do

  not lick him all up.’

  —Tunisian proverb

  ‘I was angry with my friend:

  I told my wrath, my wrath

  did end.

  I was angry with my foe:

  I told it not, my wrath did

  grow.’

  —William Blake

  ‘A friend to all is a friend

  to none.’

  —Aristotle

  ‘How else survive the heat

  of day to journey’s end?

  How else if not with the

  cool shade of a thought of

  a friend?’

  —Nasir Kazmi

  ‘A friend cannot be known

  in prosperity; an enemy

  cannot be hidden in

  adversity.’

  —Elbert Hubbard

  ‘Depth of friendship does

  not depend on length of

  acquaintance.’

  —Rabindranath Tagore

  ‘One measure of friendship

  consists not in the number

  of things friends can

  discuss, but in the number

  of things they need no

  longer mention.’

  —Clifton Fadiman

  ‘Friendship consists in

  forgetting what one gives,

  and remembering what one

  receives.’

  —Alexandre Dumas

  ‘A friend without faults will

  never be found.’

  —Chinese proverb

  ‘Whatever joy there is in

  this world

  All comes from desiring

  others to be happy,

  And whatever suffering

  there is in the world

  All comes from desiring

  only myself to be happy.’

  —Shantideva

  ‘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

  ‘You can win more friends

  with your ears than you can

  with your mouth.’

  —Dale Carnegie

  ‘When Fate’s stern hand

  shall close my weeping eye,

  And seal, at length, my

  wand’ring spirit’s doom;

  Oh! may kind friendship

  catch my parting sigh,

  And cheer with hope the

  terrors of the tomb.’

  —Mary Darby Robinson

  ‘There is little friendship

  in the world, and least of

  all between equals.’

  —Francis Bacon

  ‘It is said that you do not

  really know friends until

  you have shared misfortune

  with them. An equally

  good test would be to share

  days of great boredom

  with them. If a friendship

  survives that, it is gold.’

  —Anonymous

  ‘Choose one or two

  companions for thy life

  But be as true, as thou