Quote About Friendship: Inspiration From Khalil Gibran & Helen Keller
Sometimes, finding the words to express how you feel can be challenging. If you’re looking for a quote about friendship to include in a birthday card, wedding speech, or social media post honoring a special friend in your life, here are some thoughtful words from others to consider. For more personalized guidance in learning to express your emotions, consider working with a licensed therapist.
Friendship
Healthy friendships can come with several benefits. Friends may offer support when times get hard and help you celebrate the good times. They can increase happiness and reduce stress. Some research has also found that friends can affect your mental and physical health.
Quality friendships can protect against mental health concerns like anxiety and depression, as well as change the way you respond to stress. Talking to a supportive friend may lower blood pressure, and having a friend help with a difficult task can help make the task seem more manageable.
Expressing gratitude to the people who make a positive difference in your life can be challenging. Finding the right words can seem impossible when trying to explain how much someone means to you. Here are some of the best friend quotes to inspire you.
Quotes about friendship: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Khalil Gibran
“The only way to have a friend is to be one.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.” - Khalil Gibran
“The language of Friendship is not words but meanings.” - Henry David Thoreau
“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” - Walter Winchell
“It’s not enough to be friendly. You have to be a friend.” - R.J. Palacio
“I knew when I met you an adventure was going to happen.” - A.A. Milne
“Not a word passes between us, not because we have nothing to say, but because we don’t have to say anything.” - Khaled Hosseini
Friendship quotes: Helen Keller and Eleanor Roosevelt
“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
“True friends are never apart, maybe in distance but never in heart.” - Helen Keller
“Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
“The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.” - Elisabeth Foley
“It’s not that diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but it’s your best friends who are your diamonds.” - Gina Barreca
“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
“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
“When the world is so complicated, the simple gift of friendship is within all of our hands.” - Maria Shriver
Quotes about friends: Muhammad Ali and more
“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
“What I remember most about high school are the memories I created with my friends.” - JJ Watt
“Great is the victory, but the friendship of all is greater.” - Emil Zatopek
“The strength of the team is in each individual member…the strength of each member is the team.” - Phil Jackson
More quotes about friendship
“Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.” - G. Randolf
“Friendship is the only cement that will hold the world together.” - Woodrow Wilson
“A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.” - Bernard Meltzer
“There’s not a word yet for old friends who’ve just met.” - Jim Henson
“A good friend is like a four-leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have.” - Irish Proverb
“Friends forever, no matter the distance.” - Unknown
Maintaining good friendships
Telling your friends how you feel about them using your own words or the inspirational words of others may be one way to let them know how you feel, but there are other actions you can take to nurture your friendships.
Focus on communication
Communication can be an essential part of any healthy relationship. Being vulnerable enough to share your wants, needs, and fears with friends can help them better understand you and give you the support you deserve. Effective communication can strengthen connections, help individuals learn about one another, and build confidence and self-esteem.
Make time for one another
Finding time for friends can be challenging, especially as we take on other responsibilities at work and with our families. To stay connected to friends, making time for one another can be essential. Whether meeting for a quick cup of coffee on a weekend morning or scheduling a weekend away, making time to get together can maintain the relationship no matter how busy life gets.
Value quality, not quantity
Community can be important, but in the age of social media followers and likes, it can be easy to believe the bigger the circle of friends, the better. However, it can be helpful to remind yourself that quality is often much more important than quantity. Having genuine connections to a few people may be more beneficial than having numerous superficial friendships.
Appreciate your differences
Friends do not have to come from the same backgrounds or share the same beliefs. Learning to appreciate and respect these differences can lead to stronger bonds. Respecting cultural differences can also improve communication, prevent misunderstandings, and expose us to new experiences and perspectives.
Respect boundaries
There are many types of boundaries someone may set in a friendship. For example, people may have boundaries about respect, such as not tolerating when people share their personal information with others or not participating in gossip. Someone who has given up alcohol may ask that you not invite them to events where alcohol is the focus, or a friend who has a young infant may ask that you not call them after a certain time. Respecting these boundaries when a friend puts them in place can be essential.
Be trustworthy
Friends need to know that they can count on one another. Being forthright, keeping the information they’ve shared with you, and following through when you say you’re going to do something may let your friends know they can depend on you.
Friendship support options
Therapy can help people learn how to build stronger friendships. Whether you need to improve your communication skills or overcome past experiences to feel more comfortable being vulnerable, a therapist can guide you through any challenges that may interfere with your friendships.
If you’re looking for an alternative to traditional in-person treatment, consider online therapy. With an online therapy platform like BetterHelp, you can work with a licensed mental health provider from the comfort of your home or anywhere with an internet connection. Most people are matched with a therapist within 48 hours of signing up, and you can change providers at any time to find the right fit for you.
Online therapy can be a valid option for anyone who is looking for mental health support. In addition to being flexible and convenient, research has found that online treatment can be just as effective as in-person therapy, meaning that either approach can help you navigate relationship challenges.
Takeaway
What's a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote about friendship?
Ralph Waldo Emerson has many quotes about friendship:
- “We must be our own before we can be another's.”
- “The only way to have a friend is to be one.”
- “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.”
- “Friends should be like books, easy to find when you need them, but seldom used.”
- “Happy is the house that shelters a friend.”
- “He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, while he who has one enemy shall meet him everywhere.”
- “A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.”
- “The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.”
- “It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.”
What are Helen Keller's quotes about friendship?
Below are a few friendship quotes by Helen Keller:
- “Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.”
- “So long as the memory of certain beloved friends lives in my heart, I shall say that life is good.”
- “With every friend I love who has been taken into the brown bosom of the earth a part of me has been buried there; but their contribution to my being of happiness, strength and understanding remains to sustain me in an altered world.”
- “My friends have made the story of my life. In a thousand ways they have turned my limitations into beautiful privileges.”
- “Literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourse of my book friends. They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness.”
What's a quote about healthy friendships?
Below are some healthy friendship quotes:
- “Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends.” - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
- “Friends are the siblings God never gave us.” - Mencius
- “‘Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and to have her nonsense respected.” - Charles Lamb
- “My old grandmother always used to say, ‘Summer friends will melt away like summer snows, but winter friends are friends forever.’” - George R.R. Martin, A Feast for Crows
What's a heartwarming quote about friends?
Here are some heartwarming friendship quotes:
- “We will be the old ladies causing trouble in the nursing homes.” - Unknown
- “The greatest gift in life is the gift of friendship, and I have received it; the greatest healing therapy is friendship.” - Hubert H. Humphrey
- “Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” - Marcel Proust
- “A friend is one who overlooks your broken fence and admires the flowers in your garden.” - Unknown
- “To friendship every burden's light.” - Aesop
- “A friend may be waiting behind a stranger's face.” - Maya Angelou
What's a Muhammad Ali quote about friendship?
Muhammad Ali once said, “Friendship… is not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.”
What is a timeless quote about friendship from Khalil Gibran?
Khalil Gibran wrote the following poem, titled “On Friendship”:
“And a youth said, Speak to us of Friendship.
And he answered, saying:
Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.
When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the ‘nay’ in your own mind, nor do you withhold the ‘ay.’
And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.
When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.
And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the expression of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.
And let your best be for your friend.
If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.
For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?
Seek him always with hours to live.
For it is his to fill your need but not your emptiness.
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.”
How to express friendship in words?
It can be challenging to find the right words to express what real friends mean to you. Instead of coming up with your own words, you might share some of the poems and quotes in this article with your close friends. You could even write your favorite quotes in cards and pair them with meaningful gifts like friendship bracelets.
What is the best line for Friendship Day?
When celebrating Friendship Day, consider sharing some of the quotes from this article with your closest friends or even with a new friend. Whether you have a single friend, two friends, or more with whom to celebrate, having a friend means you can go through your whole life with compassionate support.
What is a quote about a bond of friendship?
Here are a few quotes about the bond of friendship:
- “Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: This is the ideal life.” - Mark Twain
- “Life is an awful, ugly place to not have a best friend.” - Sarah Dessen
- “The best mirror is an old friend.” - George Herbert
- “Silences make the real conversations between friends. Not the saying but the never needing to say is what counts.” - Margaret Lee Runbeck
- “A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.” - Donna Roberts
- “Everyone needs a ‘no matter what’ friend.” - Unknown
- “Friends are those rare people who ask how we are, and then wait to hear the answer.” - Ed Cunningham
What is a quote about cherishing friends?
Below are some quotes about cherishing friends:
- “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
- “Friends are the people that make you smile brighter, laugh louder, and live better.” - Unknown
- “To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.” - Dr. Seuss
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