Ralph Waldo Emerson on friendship

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.

What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.

When a whole nation is roaring patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart.

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 Camus1913–1960

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Martin Luther King Jr.1929–1968Martin Luther King, Jr., The Trumpet of Conscience, Steeler Lecture, November 1967.

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one!’

C. S. Lewis1898–1963