201 Best Friendship Quotes

Friendship is the best form of any relationship. It is all about bonding, loyalty, trust, kindness, and mutual support.  Certain friendship quotes describe this unique and wonderful bond accurately. Expressing your appreciation, love, and care for a friend through a thoughtful quote can make a lasting impression. If you are looking for some thoughtful friendship quotes, here is a compiled list you can use to express your feelings and bring a smile to a friend. Truly, friendship is the wine of life. Read on!

Best Friendship Quotes

1. “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” – Maya Angelou

2. “A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” – Walter Winchell
3. “But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine.” – Thomas Jefferson
4. “True friendship comes when the silence between two people is comfortable.” – David Tyson
5. “Life is partly what we make, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.” – Tennessee Williams
6. “Life without friends is death without witness.” – Elden Benge
7. “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” – C.S. Lewis
8. “It’s not diamonds that are a girl’s best friend, but it’s your best friends who are your diamonds.” – Gina Barreca
9. “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
10. “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
11. “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
12. “Things are never quite as scary when you’ve got a best friend.” – Bill Watterson
13. “Without friends the world is but a wilderness.” – Francis Bacon
14. “I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.” – Helen Keller
15. “In the cookie of life, friends are the chocochips.” – Unknown

16. “A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” – Walter Witchell
17. “Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious.” – Thomas Aquinas
18. “Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.” – Woodrow Wilson
19. “Because of you, I laugh a little harder, cry a little less, and smile a lot more.” – Unknown
20. “Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.” – Aristotle
21. “There are friends, there is family, and then there are friends that become family.” – Unknown
22. “There’s not a word yet for old friends who’ve just met.” – Jim Henson
23. “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
24. “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
25. “One loyal friend is worth more than a thousand fake ones.” – Unknown
26. “Friendship is Love without his wings!” – Lord Byron
27. “Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.” – Henry David Thoreau
28. “A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud. I am arrived at last in the presence of a man so real and equal, that I may drop even those undermost garments of dissimulation, courtesy, and second thought, which men never put off, and may deal with him with the simplicity and wholeness with which one chemical atom meets another.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
29. “Good friends are like stars. You don’t always see them, but you know they’re always there.” – Unknown
30. “It is the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.” – Marlene Dietrich

31. “We’ve been friends for so long I can’t remember which one of us is the bad influence.” – Unknown
32. “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
33. “Many a person has held close, throughout their entire lives, two friends that always remained strange to one another, because one of them attracted by virtue of similarity, the other by difference.” – Emil Ludwig
34. “Friendship … is born at the moment when one man says to another ‘What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .’”― C.S. Lewis
35. “A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.” – Donna Roberts
36. “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
37. “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
38. “Life was meant for good friends and great adventures.” – Unknown
39. “A single rose can be my garden… a single friend, my world.” – Leo Buscaglia
40. “When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.” – Henri Nouwen
41. “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
42. “Sometimes just spending some quality time with good friends is the only therapy you need.” – Unknown
43. “True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island… to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.” – Baltasar Gracian
44. “Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you; spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.” – Amy Poehler
45. “A good friend is like a four-leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have.” – Irish proverb

46. “Don’t make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up.” – Thomas J. Watson
47. “A man’s friendships are one of the best measures of his worth.” – Charles Darwin
48. “A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.” – Arnold H. Glasgow
49. “One of the most beautiful qualities in friendship is to understand and to be understood.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
50. “No one can live without friendship, because what would you do all day without friends?” – Natalie Portman
51. “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
52. “There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends.” – Jane Austin
53. “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
54. “The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing… not healing, not curing… that is a friend who cares.” – Henri Nouwen

55. “Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust
56. “The greatest gift of life is friendship, and I have received it.”– Hubert H. Humphrey
57. “If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.” – Charlotte Bronte
58. “In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends.” – John Churton Collins
59. “There’s nothing like a really loyal, dependable, good friend. Nothing.” – Jennifer Anniston
60. “A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are.” – Unknown

61. “It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.” – Confucius
62. “Friends are those rare people who ask how we are and then wait to hear the answer.” – Ed Cunninghum

63. “Words are easy, like the wind, faithful friends are hard to find.” – William Shakespeare
64. “A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.” – Elbert Hubbard
65. “Friendship without self-interest is one of the rare and beautiful things of life.” – James F. Byrnes
66. “Sweet is the memory of distant friends! Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart.” – Washington Irving
67. “Awards become corroded. Friends gather no dust.” – Jesse Owens
68. “Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation.” – Oscar Wilde
69. “The only way to have a friend is to be one.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
70. “A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.” – Bernard Meltzer
71. “Never leave your friends alone…keep disturbing them!” – Unknown
72. “My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.” – Henry Ford
73. “Nothing will ever please me, no matter how excellent or beneficial, if I must retain the knowledge of it to myself. . . . . . No good thing is pleasant to possess, without friends to share it.” – Seneca the Younger
74. “There is one friend in the life of each of us who seems not a separate person, however dear and beloved, but an expansion, an interpretation, of one’s self, the very meaning of one’s soul.” – Edith Wharton
75. “It’s not what we have in life, but who we have in our life that matters.” – Unknown

76. “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 is inside a day? Depends how good you live ’em. How much love is inside a friend? Depends how much you give ’em.” – Shel Silverstein
77. “The sincere friends of this world are as ship lights in the stormiest of nights.” – Giotto di Bondone
78. “Friends are relatives you make for yourself.” – Eustache Deschamps
79. “True friends are those rare people who come to find you in dark places and lead you back to the light.” – Steven Aitchison

80. “You cannot friend a hawk, they said, unless you are a hawk yourself, alone and only a sojourner in the land, without friends or the need of them.” – Stephen King
81. “A true friend knows your weaknesses but shows you your strengths; feels your fears but fortifies your faith; sees your anxiety but frees your spirit; recognizes your disabilities but emphasizes your possibilities.” – William Arthur Ward
82. “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
83. “If we treated ourselves as well as we treated our best friend, can you imagine?” – Meghan Markle
84. “I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.” – Plutarch
85. “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” – Abraham Lincoln
86. “Friendship is the golden thread that ties the heart of all the world.” – John Evelyn
87. “Friendship isn’t about who you’ve known the longest. It’s about who walked into your life, said “I’m here for you”, and proved it.” – Unknown
88. “Friendship isn’t a big thing, it’s a million small things.” – Paulo Coelho
89. “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
90. “I don’t know what I would have done so many times in my life if I hadn’t had my girlfriends.” – Reese Witherspoon

91. “The real test of friendship is can you literally do nothing with the other person? Can you enjoy those moments of life that are utterly simple?” – Eugene Kennedy
92. “Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one.” – Oscar Wilde
93. “Some people arrive and make such a beautiful impact on your life, you can barely remember what life was like without them.” – Anna Taylor
94. “A true friend is someone who sees the pain in your eyes while everyone else believes the smile on your face.” – Unknown
95. “True friends aren’t the ones who make your problems disappear. They’re the ones who won’t disappear when you’re facing problems.” – Unknown
96. “Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.” – Aristotle
97. “Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm & constant.” – Socrates
98. “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
99. “He who hath many friends hath none.” – Aristotle
100. “A good friend knows all your best stories, but a best friend has lived them with you.” – Unknown
101. “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
102. “In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, for in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed” – Khalil Gibran
103. “The best mirror is an old friend” – George Herbert
104. “Remember that life’s most valuable antiques are dear old friends.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr.
105. “Life is an ugly, awful place to not have a best friend.” – Sarah Dessen
106. “One friend with whom you have a lot in common is better than three with whom you struggle to find things to talk about. We never needed best friend gear because I guess with real friends you don’t have to make it official. It just is.” – Mindy Kaling
107. “You don’t have to have anything in common with people you’ve known since you were five. With old friends, you’ve got your whole life in common.” – Lyle Lovett
108. “Friendship is delicate as a glass, once broken it can be fixed but there will always be cracks.” – Waqar Ahamed
109. “A good friend can tell you what the matter with you is in a minute. He may not seem like such a good friend after telling.” – Arthur Brisbane
110. “’Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and to have her nonsense respected.” – Charles Lamb
111. “You know what sucks about getting older? Your friends have known you for way too long. They’ve got too much on you. I want friends who still lie to me because they don’t want to hurt my feelings. I sadly kind of mean that.” – Nick Miller
112. “Do not keep on with a mockery of friendship after the substance is gone — but part, while you can part friends. Bury the carcass of friendship: it is not worth embalming.” – William Hazlitt
113. “A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies.” – Aristotle
114. “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
115. “Friendship is a sheltering tree;” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge

116. “A true friend is for ever a friend.” – George MacDonald
117. “Your friends will know you better in the first minute you meet than your acquaintances will know you in a thousand years” – Richard Bach
118. “To friendship every burden’s light.”- Aesop
119. “And what is a friend? More than a father, more than a brother: a traveling companion, with him, you can conquer the impossible, even if you must lose it later. Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing.” – Elie Wiesel
120. “The tender friendships one gives up, on parting, leave their bite on the heart, but also a curious feeling of a treasure somewhere buried.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
121. “True friendship is a plant of slow growth” – George Washington
122. “Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by, the doubling of our joy, and diving of our grief;” – Joseph Addison
123. “That was what a best friend did: hold up a mirror and show you your heart.” – Kristin Hannah
124. “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
125. “Friendship’s the wine of life.” – Edward Young
126. “For it would then be true friendship, such as no hope, no fear, no self-interest can sever. That is a friendship that stays with people until they die—and that people die for” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
127. “Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends.” – Virginia Woolf
128. “If you have two friends in your lifetime, you’re lucky. If you have one good friend, you’re more than lucky.” – S.E. Hinton
129. “Friends should be like books, few, but hand-selected.” – C.J. Langenhoven
130. “What I realize now in hindsight is that there is a natural ebb and flow to friendships. There are times you think there’s nothing left between you, that you’ve hit the bottom, but the special ones survive, find ways of restoring themselves” – Colette McBeth

131. “A true friend is one who overlooks your failures and tolerates your success!” – Doug Larson
132. “I think if I’ve learned anything about friendship, it’s to hang in, stay connected, fight for them, and let them fight for you. Don’t walk away, don’t be distracted, don’t be too busy or tired, don’t take them for granted. Friends are part of the glue that holds life and faith together. Powerful stuff.” – Jon katz
133. “There are three things that grow more precious with age; old wood to burn, old books to read, and old friends to enjoy.” – Henry Ford
134. “No friendship is an accident.” – O. Henry
135. “The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.” – Elisabeth Foley
136. “A friend is one of the best things you can be and the greatest things you can have” – Sarah Valdez
137. “When the world is so complicated, the simple gift of friendship is within all of our hands.” – Maria Shriver
138. “Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.” – G. Randolph
139. “Friends are the siblings God never gave us.” – Mencius
140. “True friends are like diamonds — bright, beautiful, valuable, and always in style.” – Nicole Richie
141. “There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.” – Thomas Aquinas
142. “Friends are the family you choose.” – Jess C. Scott
143. “Anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.” – Misty Copeland
144. “True friends are always together in spirit.” – L.M. Montgomery
145. “There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.” – Linda Grayson

146. “If you are ever lucky enough to find a weirdo, never let them go.”” – Matthew Gray Gubler
147. “The essence of true friendship is to make allowance for another’s little lapses..” – David Storey
148. “A friend can tell you things you don’t want to tell yourself.” – Frances Ward Weller
149. “Friendships have different phases and change over time. All we can really control is ourselves. Be the type of friend you want to have!” – Jessica Speer
150. “I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar.” – Robert Brault
151. “The friend who holds your hand and says the wrong thing is made of dearer stuff than the one who stays away.” – Barbara Kingsolver
152. “Friends…they cherish one another’s hopes. They are kind to one another’s dreams.” – Henry David Thoreau
153. “False friendship, like the ivy, decays and ruins the walls it embraces; but true friendship gives new life and animation to the object it supports” = Richard Burton
154. “Real friendship, like real poetry, is extremely rare — and precious as a pearl.” – Tahar Ben Jelloun
155. “She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.” – Toni Morrison
156. “Friendship is like a glass ornament, once it is broken it can rarely be put back together exactly the same way.” – Charles Kingsley
157. “Experts on romance say for a happy marriage there has to be more than a passionate love. For a lasting union, they insist, there must be a genuine liking for each other. Which, in my book, is a good definition for friendship.” – Marilyn Monroe
158. “No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.” – Alice Walker
159. “A friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face” – Maya Angelou
160. “Each new friendship can make you a new person, because it opens up new doors inside of you.” – Kate DiCamillo

161. “Since there is nothing so well worth having as friends, never lose a chance to make them.” – Francesco Guicciardini
162. “If you go looking for a friend, you’re going to find they’re very scarce. If you go out to be a friend, you’ll find them everywhere.” – Zig Ziglar
163. “Every new friend is a new adventure… the start of more memories.” – Patrick Lindsay
164. “The great thing about new friends is that they bring new energy to your soul.” – Shanna Rodriguez
165. “The kindest way of helping yourself is to find a friend.” – Ann Kaiser Stearns
166. “There are friendships imprinted in our hearts that will never be diminished by time and distance.” – Dodinsky
167. “No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other’s worth.” – Robert Southey
168. “There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.” – Diana Cortes
169. “Someone to tell it to is one of the fundamental needs of human beings.” – Miles Foley
170. “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
171. “A real friendship should not fade as time passes, and should not weaken because of space separation.” – John Newton
172. “A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand.” – Khalil Gibran
173. “Can miles truly separate you from friends…If you want to be with someone you love, aren’t you already there?” – Richard Bach
174. “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.” – Octavia Butler
175. “Close friends are truly life’s treasures. Sometimes they know us better than we know ourselves.” – Vincent Van Gogh

176. “In my friend, I find a second self” – Isabel Norton
177. “It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
178. “Life is nothing without friendship.” – Cicero
179. “My shadow serves as the friend I crave.” – Anna Akhmatova
180. “Friendship takes work. Finding friends, nurturing friendships, scheduling face time, it all take a tremendous amount of work. But it’s worth it. If you put in the effort, you’ll see the rewards of positive friends who will make your life extraordinary.” – Maya Angelou
181. “Friendships between women, as any woman will tell you, are built of a thousand small kindnesses… swapped back and forth and over again,” – Michelle Obama
182. “Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends leave footprints in your heart.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
183. “Women’s friendships are like a renewable source of power.” – Jane Fonda
184. “Rare as is true love, true friendship is rarer.” – Jean de la Fontaine
185. “A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.” – Elbert Hubbard
186. “Every friendship travels at sometime through the black valley of despair. This tests every aspect of your affection. You lose the attraction and the magic. Your sense of each other darkens and your presence is sore. If you can come through this time, it can purify with your love, and falsity and need will fall away. It will bring you onto new ground where affection can grow again.” – John O’Donohue
187. “True friendship resists time, distance, and silence.” – Isabel Allende
188. “ Friend is someone who makes it easy to believe in yourself”- Heidi Wills
189. “How beautiful it is to find someone who asks for nothing but your company. “ – Brigitte Nicole
190. “Friends are medicine for a wounded heart, and vitamins for a hopeful soul.” – Steve Maraboli
191. “True friendship is when two friends can walk in opposite directions, yet remain side by side.” – Josh Grayson
192. “Nobody can avoid falling in love. They might want to deny it, but friendship is probably the most common form of love.” – Stieg Larsson
193. “One’s friends are that part of the human race with which one can be human.” – George Santayana
194. “Every friendship goes through ups and downs. Dysfunctional patterns set in; external situations cause internal friction; you grow apart and then bounce back together.” – Mariella Frostrup
195. “Friendship is a strong and habitual inclination in two persons to promote the good and happiness of one another.” – Eustace Budgell
196. “Friendship is a wildly underrated medication.” – Anna Deavere Smith
197. “Friendship is a pretty full-time occupation if you really are friendly with somebody. You can’t have too many friends because then you’re just not really friends.” – Truman Capote
198. “A friend is an emotional bond, just like friendship is a human experience.” – Simon Sinek
199. “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
200. “Two things you will never have to chase: True friends & true love.” – Mandy Hale
201. “While the number of friends may feed your ego, it will never satisfy your heart.” – Frank Sonnenberg

Infographic: 8 Quotes That Capture The True Essence Of Friendship

Throughout history, great minds and important voices have pondered the nature of real friendship, expressing it in words that speak to our emotions. With so many quotes to choose from, it can be tough deciding which one to send to your bestie and let them know how much you value their presence. To help, we have compiled a list of the best 8 quotes on true friendship in the infographic below. Scroll down to read.

Illustration: StyleCraze Design Team

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s another word for best friends?

Bosom buddies, soul mates, confidantes, besties, and sidekicks are some common synonyms for best friends.

Which color means friendship?

The color yellow is most commonly used to signify friendship.

What flower symbolizes friendship?

In general, all yellow flowers may represent friendship. However, yellow roses are the most preferred flowers to symbolize friendship in modern times.

Friendship is a precious gift that adds beauty to one’s life. Watch this video to find beautiful, heart-touching quotes on friendship, and share them with your friends to let them know how blessed you are to have found them.

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Damini GroverCounseling Psychologist & Life Coach

     

Damini Grover has over nine years of experience working with individuals from various walks of life and enabling them to resolve various mental and emotional health concerns to lead an empowered life. She is a Counseling Psychologist, a Master Practitioner of Cognitive Hypnotic Psychotherapy, an Internationally Certified Heal Your Life Teacher & Coach, a certified Psycho-Geometrics & Emotional Intelligence Facilitator,...more

Sneha TeteBeauty & Lifestyle Writer

Sneha has a master's degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Hyderabad, a professional Relationship Coach diploma, and over four years of experience in writing. She writes about relationships and lifestyle. Sneha began her career as an instructional designer, shifted to freelance technical and research writing, and self-published a novella on the theme of adolescent mental health. She also...more

Subhrojyoti MukherjeeAssociate Editor

Subhrojyoti is an associate editor at StyleCraze with four years of experience. He has a master’s degree in English from Presidency University, Kolkata, and has also done a post-graduate certificate course in Editing and Publishing from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He has a deep understanding of the nuances involved in beauty and lifestyle content. Prior to this, he worked across various...more