We’re born alone, live alone, and die alone. Only through love and friendship can we create the illusion that we’re not alone.

It puzzles me how many people still believe ‘friendship’ or at least bonhomie conducted in cyberspace isn’t a valuable form of social contact, but, say, being thrown together at an NCT group, or in halls of residence, or because your desks at work face on to each other, is. Or that anodyne small talk with a neighbour is ‘genuine social stimulation,’ whereas chatting over Twitter with someone 6,000 miles away who loves Top Gun and Jefferson Airplane as much as you do is just lonely, dysfunctional nerds clashing in cyberspace. This, to my mind, is idiotic. It’s time for us all to come out of the closet about our secret internet chums.

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to appellation.

This guy’s walkin’ down a street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can’t get out. A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, “Hey you! Can you help me out?” The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole, and moves on. Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up, “Father, I’m down in this hole; can you help me out?” The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. “Hey, Joe, it’s me. Can ya help me out?” And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, “Are ya stupid? Now we’re both down here.” The friend says, “Yeah, but I’ve been down here before and I know the way out.

I find people around me are all making some kind of connection, like friendship or romance but human bonds always lead to messy complications; commitment, sharing, driving people to the airport. Besides if I let someone get that close, they’d see who I really am and I can’t let that happen. So, time to put on my mask.

There are so many things that have to happen for two people to meet.

Outside of a dog, books are man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.

Friendship is like peeing in your pants. Everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth.

Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.

There are beautiful souls on this beautiful planet whom you do not yet even know, yet through your meanderings and theirs, paths will cross, love be shared and eternal friendships created. And nothing you might do, or not do, can prevent these serendipities.

I’ll be your mirror
Reflect what you are, in case you don’t know
I’ll be the wind, the rain and the sunset
The light on your door to show that you’re home

When you think the night has seen your mind
That inside you’re twisted and unkind
Let me stand to show that you are blind
Please put down your hands
‘Cause I see you

I find it hard to believe you don’t know
The beauty you are
But if you don’t let me be your eyes
A hand in your darkness, so you won’t be afraid

When you think the night has seen your mind
That inside you’re twisted and unkind
Let me stand to show that you are blind
Please put down your hands
‘Cause I see you

I’ll be your mirror
(reflect what you are)

[Leo responds by telling a story about] a guy who’s walking down the street when he falls into a hole. The walls are so steep he can’t escape. A doctor walks by and the guy asks him for help. The doctor writes a prescription and throws it down and leaves. A priest passes by and the guy asks him for help. The priest scribbles out a prayer, tosses it down and walks away. Then one of the guy’s friends walks by and the guy asks him for help. The friend jumps down into the hole with the first guy. The first guy asks, “Are you stupid? Now we’re both down here!” The friend says, “Yeah, but I’ve been down here before and I know the way out.”

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him.

He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words.

Have no friends not equal to yourself.

Friends are generally of the same sex, for when men and women agree, it is only in the conclusions; their reasons are always different.

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.

Of course, the embracing of friends, of taking them to your heart and into rooms of your psyche where others are forbidden to go, can be dangerous. It requires a faith and trust in them which can be hard to give. However open or private a person may be, there is a step to be taken which involves the disclosure of things which you may not want to disclose. While no-one is an open book, there are still pieces of life which everyone keeps to themself, either embarrassed or ashamed by their deeds, choices and thoughts.

Those grubby, imperfect jewels are kept tight in a locked box within us, where we are unwilling to put them on display. Which is precisely why we are afraid and disappointed by the betrayal of friends; “I allowed you in, only you, to hold you close, and yet you remained unmoved by this rare privilege, this denuding, and turned to expose me”. Just as you can be betrayed by a kiss, you can be betrayed by a hug.

When we ask advice we are usually looking for an accomplice.

The way to make a true friend is to be one. Friendship implies loyalty, esteem, cordiality, sympathy, affection, readiness to aid, to help, to stick, to fight for if need be. Radiate friendship and it will return sevenfold.

And in the sweetness of Friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

From quiet homes and first beginning,
Out to the undiscovered ends,
There’s nothing worth the wear of winning,
But laughter and the love of friends.

Don’t be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.

Friendship is different from all other relationships. Unlike acquaintanceship, it is based on love. Unlike lovers and married couples, it is free of jealousy. Unlike children and parents, it knows neither criticism nor resentment. Friendship has no status in law. Business partnerships are based on a contract. So is marriage. Parents are bound by the law, as are children. But friendship is freely enteredd into, freely given, freely exercised. Friends never cheat each other, or take advantage, or lie. Friends do not spy on one another, yet they have no secrets. Friends glory in each other’s successes and are downcast by the failures. Friends minister to each other, nurse each other. Friends give to each other, worry about each other, stand always ready to help. Perfect friendship is rarely achieved, but at its height, is an ecstasy.

Friends are those rare people who ask how we are and then wait to hear the answer.

Don’t confuse friends and aquaintances; friends are the people you share your life with, aquaintances are the people you share a bunch of nothing with.

I value the friend who for me finds time on their calendar. I cherish the friend who for me does not consult their calendar.

So long as we love, we serve; so long as we are loved by others, we are almost indispensable; and no man is useless while has has a friend.

There are no words to express the abyss between isolation and having one ally.

Become the world’s most thoughtful friend.

The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on the porch, and swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you’ve had.

True friendship comes when the silence between two people is comfortable.

Real friends have no problem with silence.

No man can be happy without a friend, nor be sure of his friend till he is unhappy.

Only a few persons influence the formation of our character; the multitude pass us by like a distant army. One friend, one teacher, one beloved, one club, one dining table, one work table are the means by which one’s nation and the spirit of one’s nation affect the individual.

I have always held it as a maxim, and found it justified by experience, that a man and a woman make far better friendships than can exist between two of the same sex, but then with the condition that they never have, or are to make, love to each other.

The language of friendship is not words but meanings.

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

The only true gift is a portion of yourself.

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

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

A friend can tell you things you don’t want to tell yourself.

Of all the means to insure happiness throughout the whole world, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.

True friendship is never serene.

A friend is one who sees through you and still enjoys the view.

And what is laughter anyway? Changing the angle of vision. That is what you love a friend for: the ability to change your angle of vision, bring back your best self when you feel worst, remind you of your strengths when you feel weak.

I am glad you are here with me, Sam. Here at the end of all things, Sam.

Even in the common affairs of life, in love, friendship, and marriage, how little security have we when we trust our happiness in the hands of others!