True friends not only protect you from others when something goes bad, but from yourself when you try to take blame.

The greatest challenge in being a friend is not listening when words are spoken, but hearing and feeling when there is nothing but silence.

When you’re soaring through the air, I’ll be your solid ground. Take every chance you dare, I’ll still be here when you come back down. ~ Nickel Creek

The worst solitude is to be destitute of sincere friendship. ~ Sir Francis Bacon

Just when you think that a person is just a backdrop for the rest of the universe, watch them and see that they laugh, they cry, they tell jokes … they’re just friends waiting to be made. ~ Jeffery Borenstein

You could always make me laugh, you listened to my pain, and you turned my nights into sunshine when my days were full of rain.

A friend understands the unspoken thoughts in your heart.

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art … it has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that gives value to survival. ~ CS Lewis

In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends. ~ John Churton Collins

The friend who holds your hand and says the wrong thing is made of dearer stuff than the one who stays away. ~ Barbara Kingsolver

Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes our deepest thanks to those who have rekindled the light.

And I think that they know. Nothing specific really. They just know. And I think that’s all you can ever ask from a friend.

Understanding what our friends need isn’t magic. It comes from taking the time to notice one another and respond to their needs. So friends who pay attention are especially precious; a real girlfriend makes the effort.

Friendship is a dangerous thing. Like when you get that close with someone, to a point where you can feel that you can talk to them about almost anything, then it is just natural to want to take the relationship to the next step. That is what love is all about, friendship. And then you realize that it is more than that, something that you can't even describe with words, because words only seem to reduce the power that you feel. ~ Jacey Dowery

I pick my company by the beating of their hearts, not the swelling of their heads. ~ Saves the Day

So long as we love, we serve. So long as we are loved by others I would almost say we are indispensable; and no man is useless while he has a friend. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

A friend is one in whom we can confide. The secret chambers of our soul open to his touch on the latch. ~ J. E. Dinger

Close friends are truly life's treasures. Sometimes they know us better than we know ourselves. With gently honesty, they are there to guide us and support us, to share our laughter and our tears. Their presence reminds us that no matter what, we're not alone.

I guess what I learned from all that is … real friends, the truest of friends, are really those who know all about me and like me anyway. They are the people who no matter how long it has been since I have talked to them or seen them, I can call them – no matter what time of the day – and just pick up where we left off. Like no time has ever passed since our last conversation. People like that are the ones that you feel comfortable with; otherwise you wouldn’t be able to do it. They’re the people who really are there, no matter what.

A friend is there before you know it, to lend a hand before you ask it, and give you love just when you need it most.

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 without self-interest is one of the rare and beautiful things of life. ~ James F. Byrnes

Two persons cannot long be friends if they cannot forgive each other's little failings. ~ Jean De La Bruyère

Friendships begin because, even without words, we understand how someone feels. ~ Joan Walsh Anglund

Do not keep on with a mockery of friendship after the substance is gone – but part, while you can part friends. ~ William Hazlitt

I hate it in friends when they come too late to help. ~ Euripides

The better part of one's life consists of his friendships. ~ Abraham Lincoln

When one is trying to do something beyond his known powers it is useless to seek the approval of friends. Friends are at their best in moments of defeat. ~ Henry Miller

A woman may very well form a friendship with a man, but for this to endure, it must be assisted by a little physical antipathy. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure. ~ Buddha

The rule of friendship means there should be mutual sympathy between them, each supplying what the other lacks and trying to benefit the other, always using friendly and sincere words. ~ Buddha

Friendship is a strong and habitual inclination in two persons to promote the good and happiness of one another. ~ Eustace Budgell

Love is only chatter, friends are all that matter. ~ Frank Gelett Burgess

Give me one friend, just one, who meets the needs of all my varying moods. ~ Esther M. Clark

And what a delight it is to make friends with someone you have despised. ~ Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

A man must eat a peck of salt with his friend before he knows him. ~ Miguel De Cervantes

Friendship, of itself a holy tie, is made more sacred by adversity. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

We do not so much need the help of our friends as the confidence of their help in need. ~ Epicurus

Be more prompt to go to a friend in adversity than in prosperity. ~ Chilo