They say friends are the family you choose, the wine to life, the yin to yang…but what does friendship mean to you?
It may embody all the things mentioned above, or it may make you think of the ones closest to your heart. Whatever the case may be, being reminded of the VIPs in your life always feels good. And by the same token, reminding your besties just how important they are to you too will forever be appreciated.
Famous authors, poets, and everyone in between have been trying to put friendship into words for ages. Whether you’re celebrating something special or just want to remind your BFF of how great they are, our collection of friendship quotes will help you get started.
Quotes about friendship
We could all use a reminder of how important friendship is. Whether you’re trying to cheer someone up or add a sweet sentiment to a gift or card, the quotes below will help you craft the perfect message.
- “I would rather walk with a friend in the dark than alone in the light.” – Helen Keller
- “What draws people to be friends is that they see the same truth. They share it.” – C.S. Lewis
- “True friends are like diamonds — bright, beautiful, valuable, and always in style.” – Nicole Richie
- “Rare as is true love, true friendship is rarer.” – Jean de La Fontaine
- “A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies.” – Aristotle
- “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
- “Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.” – Tennessee Williams
- “Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.” – Woodrow T. Wilson
- “Friendship is the golden thread that ties the heart of all the world.” – John Evelyn
- “When the world is so complicated, the simple gift of friendship is within all of our hands.” – Maria Shriver
- “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
- “Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust
- “The love that comes from friendship is the underlying facet of a happy life.” – Chelsea Handler
- “Friends…they cherish one another’s hopes. They are kind to one another’s dreams.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief.” – Joseph Addison
- “Since there is nothing so well worth having as friends, never lose a chance to make them.” – Francesco Guicciardini
- “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
- “Friendship is the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words.” – George Eliot
MORE: Best Birthday Gifts for Your Best Friend
Cute friendship quotes
Sometimes a few sweet words are all someone needs to put a smile on their face. These cute friendship quotes will help you do just that.
- “Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
- “I knew when I met you an adventure was going to happen” – Winnie the Pooh
- “I get by with a little help from my friends.” – The Beatles
- “Friendship is the wine of life.” – Edward Young
- “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
- “If ever there is a tomorrow when we’re not together, there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we are apart, I’ll always be with you.” – A.A. Milne
- “Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.” – Kahlil Gibran
- “If you live to be 100, I want to live to be 100 minus one day, so I never have to live without you.” – Winnie the Pooh
- “To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.” – Dr. Seuss
- “A good friend is like a four-leaf clover; hard to find and lucky to have.” – Irish Proverb
- “A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.” – Bernard Meltzer
- “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
- “There is not a word yet for old friends who’ve just met.” – Jim Henson
- “It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Short friendship quotes
If you’re looking for something short and sweet to share with your bestie, these quotes will help you show your BFF how special you think they are.
- “It’s the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.” – Marlene Dietrich
- “The only way to have a friend is to be one.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “A friend is what the heart needs all the time.” – Henry van Dyke
- “The greatest gift of life is friendship, and I have received it.” – Hubert H. Humphrey
- “A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself.” – Jim Morrison
- “Things are never quite as scary when you’ve got a best friend.” – Bill Watterson
- “A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.” – Elbert Hubbard
- “Life is nothing without friendship.” – Cicero
- “We were together. I forget the rest.” – Walt Whitman
- “I will not let you go into the unknown alone.” – Bram Stoker
- “A true friend is a forever friend.” – George MacDonald
- “No friendship is an accident.” – O. Henry
- “True friends are never apart, maybe in distance but never in heart.” – Helen Keller
- “My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.” – Henry Ford
- “Time doesn’t take away from friendship, nor does separation.” – Tennessee Williams
- “There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.” – Thomas Aquinas
- “A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” – Walter Winchell
- “There’s nothing like a really loyal, dependable, good friend. Nothing.” – Jennifer Aniston
- “Friends…they cherish one another’s hopes. They are kind to one another’s dreams.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Best friend isn’t a person; it’s a tier.” – Mindy Kaling
- “Anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.” – Misty Copeland
- “The best mirror is an old friend.” – George Herbert
- “True friends are always together in spirit.” – L.M. Montgomery
- “True friendship resists time, distance and silence.” – Isabel Allende
- “Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness.” – Euripides
- “Friendship is a wildly underrated medication.” – Anna Deavere Smith
- “Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
- “One’s friends are that part of the human race with which one can be human.” – George Santayana
- “The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Life is an awful, ugly place to not have a best friend.” – Sarah Dessen
- “Friends are relatives you make for yourself.” – Eustache Deschamps
- “Women’s friendships are like a renewable source of power.” – Jane Fonda
- “True friends are families which you can select.” – Audrey Hepburn
- “A friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face.” – Maya Angelou
- “A true friend is the greatest of all blessings.” – Francois de La Rochefoucauld
- “Friendship is the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words.” – George Eliot
- “Friends are the sunshine of life.” – John Hay
- “I think that generosity is the essence of friendship.” – Oscar Wilde
- “You’ve got a friend in me.” – Randy Newman
Beautiful quotes on friendship
These quotes on friendship will remind you of what it means to have true friends, people who love you for you and have your back no matter what. Be sure they don’t forget it!
- “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
- “Close friends are truly life’s treasures. Sometimes they know us better than we know ourselves. With gentle honesty, they are there to guide and support us, to share our laughter and our tears. Their presence reminds us that we are never really alone.” – Vincent van Gogh
- “Nobody can avoid falling in love. They might want to deny it, but friendship is probably the most common form of love.” – Stieg Larsson
- “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
- “Friendship isn’t a big thing — it’s a million little things.” – Paulo Coelho
- “Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “A single rose can be my garden…a single friend, my world.” – Leo Buscaglia
- “Real friendship, like real poetry, is extremely rare — and precious as a pearl.” – Tahar Ben Jelloun
- “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.” – Paramahansa Yogananda
- “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.” – Kahlil Gibran
- “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
- “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
- “Your friends will know you better in the first minute you meet than your acquaintances will know you in a thousand years.” – Richard Bach
- “If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together…there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart…I’ll always be with you.” – Winnie the Pooh
- “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
- “Friendship is the purest love. It is the highest form of love where nothing is asked for, no condition, where one simply enjoys giving.” – Osho
- “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art. … It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” – C.S. Lewis
- “Lean on me, when you’re not strong. And I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on.” – Bill Withers
