Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,161,747 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Friendship
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“A thug changes, and love changes and best friends become strangers, word up”
“The real and most pressing question raised by any social problem is: “How do I appear concerned and compassionate to all my friends, colleagues, and peers?”
Anthony Daniels (psychiatrist) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Starving Criminal (Autumn 2002).
“Or, to state his character as it stood in the scale of public opinion, when his friends and critics were in tantrums, he was considered rather a bad man; when they were pleased, he was rather a good man; when they were neither, he was a man whose moral colour was a kind of pepper-and-salt mixture.”
Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) said by 1928 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Way over half the murders committed in this country are by close friends or relatives of the deceased. A gun makes a loud and satisfying noise in a moment of passion and requires no agility and very little strength. How many murders wouldn't happen, if they all had to use hammers and knives?”
John D. MacDonald (1916–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Just as a Philistine does not on the whole devote his life to his art, so a misogynist does not devote his inner life to women. Larkin's men friends devolved into pen-pals. Such intimacies as he shared, he shared with women.”
Martin Amis (1949–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our apologies, good friends, for the fracture of good order, the burning of paper instead of children, the angering of the orderlies in the front parlor of the charnel house. We could not, so help us God, do otherwise.... The time is past when good men can remain silent, when obedience can segregate men from public risk, when the poor can die without defense.”
Daniel Berrigan (1921–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was relatively easy, we now realize, to categorize countries and nations. You knew who your enemies were and whom you could count on as collaborators and friends. And even more importantly, you had ready-made scapegoats to take the blame when things were going wrong.”
Desmond Tutu (1931–2021) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech entitled Freedom and Tolerance (June 1995), Cape Town Press Club
“Colored men of Tennessee, humble and unworthy as I am, if no better shall be found I will indeed be your Moses and lead you through the Red Sea of war and bondage to a fairer future of liberty and peace. I speak now as one who feels the world his country and all who love equal rights his friends.”
Andrew Johnson (1808–1875) first seen 1865 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "The Good Fight" (1865), by George William Curtis.
“We now talk of our killed and wounded. There is however a very happy feeling. Those who escape regret of course the loss of comrades and friends, but their own escape and safety to some extent modifies their feelings.”
Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893) first seen 1864 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Lucy Webb Hayes (25 October 1864)
“Old friends become bitter enemies on a sudden for toys and small offenses.”
Robert Burton (1577–1640) said by 1640 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When one has not father, or mother, or brother, and all one's friends have barely bread enough for themselves, life cannot be very easy, nor its crusts very many at any time.”
Ouida (1839–1908) said by 1908 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The history of a man's soul, even the pettiest soul, is hardly less interesting and useful than the history of a whole people; especially when the former is the result of the observations of a mature mind upon itself, and has been written without any egotistical desire of arousing sympathy or astonishment. Rousseau's Confessions has precisely this defect – he read it to his friends.”
Mikhail Lermontov (1814–1841) said by 1841 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Of two friends, one is always the slave of the other, although frequently neither acknowledges the fact to himself.”
Mikhail Lermontov (1814–1841) said by 1841 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I spend eight to nine months working abroad and cram in a holiday when I have the odd week off. This year, three of those months were spent in America playing gigs with my band, so we got to visit all kinds of places from Arizona to New York. After a few weeks, I really began to miss family and friends not to mention baked beans!”
Katie Melua (born 1984) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think I'm actually in denial that I'm famous, it only sinks in when people crowd in the streets. My friends treat me like a regular person, which is what I wanted.”
Emma Watson (born 1990) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (Girl's Life Magazine 2007)
“A good book is the best of friends, the same today and forever.”
Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810–1889) said by 1889 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am not old, — I cannot be old, Though threescore years and ten Have wasted away, like a tale that is told, The lives of other men: I am not old ; though friends and foes Alike have gone to their graves, And left me alone to my joys or my woes, As a rock in the midst of the waves.”
Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810–1889) said by 1889 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...for the truth is, I am gone something further in hate to the English Government than perhaps you and the rest of my friends are, and certainly further than can with prudence be avowed. The triumph of the French Government over the English does in fact afford me a degree of pleasure which it is very difficult to disguise.”
Charles James Fox (1749–1806) first seen 1764 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Lord Grey (22 October 1801), quoted in E. A. Smith, Lord Grey. 1764-1845 (1996), p. 86
“The House of Commons is called the Lower House, in twenty Acts of Parliament; but what are twenty Acts of Parliament amongst Friends?”
John Selden (1584–1654) said by 1654 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Old friends are best. King James used to call for his old shoes; they were easiest for his feet.”
John Selden (1584–1654) said by 1654 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What I was looking for was a romantic athmosphere that I could feel at home with. I think I've achieved that. I love my home. I have friends round. I take care to live in it, not to work in it.”
“I'm sometimes asked what are the pluses and minuses of celebrity ... and, for me, the biggest plus is being successful at something that I love to do. The minuses, unfortunately, include having to live with security and the knowledge that you may be stalked. ... I do like people ... I have lots of friends, but I can only be who I am.”
“You can’t become a saint by taking dope, stealing your friends’ typewriters, giving girls chancres, not supporting your wife and children, and then reading St. John of the Cross. All of that, when it’s happened before, has typified the collapse of civilization … and today the social fabric is falling apart so fast, it makes your head swim.”
Kenneth Rexroth (1905–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He said that men ought to remember those friends who were absent as well as those who were present.”
Diogenes Laërtius wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Tertullian
“All things are in common among friends.”
Diogenes Laërtius wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Tertullian
“For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy.”
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Stewart: Living. Living. Everyday living. At home, in the garden, around the house, with the kids, um, on vacation, and it has always been for me a very serious subject. But to persuade other people that it's a serious subject, not my readers, not my, not my followers, I don't want to call them followers, my friends, but to persuade...”
Martha Stewart (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Respect for mother and father is good, generosity to friends, acquaintances, relatives, Brahmans and ascetics is good, not killing living beings is good, moderation in spending and moderation in saving is good. The Council shall notify the Yuktas about the observance of these instructions in these very words.”
Ashoka (304–232 BC) said by 232 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...that she was the one who'd made friends with the Snake, that she'd let it lick the blood of her first menstruation, that she … ooo eee, that she … ooo eee, that she … ooo, eee, that she now knew what the Serpent knew.”
Tom Robbins (1932–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When you see on the news or read in the newspaper that so many people were killed in places far away, do not let these numbers become mere abstractions to you. These are real people, like you and I. They are families, friends; they have pain, they have grief.”
Hamid Karzai (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One of life’s joys was to have friends who gave you reality checks...who would call you on your crap before it rose so high you drowned in it.”
David Brin (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Friends, we have now won. ...I say to Aymaras, Quechuas, Chiquitaos, and Guaranis: for the first time we [indigenous people] are going to be presidents. And I want to say to businesses, intellectual professionals, and artists: do not abandon us.”
Evo Morales (born 1959) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 18 Dec 2005 in Cochabamba,zdfbzfdg Socialismo], as quoted by Spanish Wikiquote.
“The pleasantest of all diversions is to sit alone under the lamp, a book spread out before you, and to make friends with people of a distant past you have never known.”
Yoshida Kenkō (1283–1350) said by 1350 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 13 (tr. Keene, 1967)
“Here I have established my Rome, my Athens, and my spiritual fatherland; here I gather all the friends I now have or did have, not only those ... who have lived with me, but also those who died many centuries ago, known to me only through their writings. ... I am where I wish to be.”
Petrarch (1304–1374) said by 1374 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On his library at Vaucluse, as quoted in "Livelier Than the Living," by Catherine Nicholson, The New York Review of Books (Vol. LXXI, No. 11, June 20, 2024)
“My true friends have always given me that supreme proof of devotion, a spontaneous aversion for the man I loved.”
Colette (1873–1954) first seen 1928 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Break of Day (1928)
“What a delight it is to make friends with someone you have despised!”
Colette (1873–1954) said by 1954 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sido and I”, Earthly Paradise (1966) ed. Robert Phelps
“I think if I had my life to live over again, I'd do things a little different. I was aggressive, perhaps too aggressive. Maybe I went too far. I always had to be right in any argument I was in, I always had to be first in everything. I do indeed think I would have done some things different. And if I had I believe I would have had more friends.”
Ty Cobb (1886–1961) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement made in 1961, as quoted in Voices from Cooperstown: Baseball's Hall of Famers Tell It Like It Was (1998) by Anthony J. Connor, p. 286
“I have to work hard to not look like a nerd all the time. My friends are the only people I know that don't care about my image. I need to have people who treat me just as Josh, not as Josh the singer.”
Josh Groban (born 1981) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Growing up, metabolizing hatred like a daily bread. Because I am Black, because I am woman, because I am not Black enough, because I am not some particular fantasy of a woman, because I AM. On such a consistent diet, one can eventually come to value the hatred of one’s enemies more than one values the love of friends, for that hatred becomes the source of anger, and anger is a powerful fuel.”
Audre Lorde (1934–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“King Pandion, he is dead, All thy friends are lapped in lead.”
Richard Barnfield (1574–1627) said by 1627 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Like a beast in a pen, I’m cut off From my friends, freedom, the Sun. But the hunters are gaining ground; I’ve nowhere else to run.”
Boris Pasternak (1890–1960) said by 1960 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As one of my Jewish friends has been known to observe, the Jews who survived World War II were either now atheists or hadn’t been paying attention.”
Robert J. Sawyer (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love is a Passion that hath Friends in the Garrison.”
George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax (1633–1695) said by 1695 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But people can't, unhappily, invent their mooring posts, their lovers and their friends, anymore than they can invent their parents. Life gives these and also takes them away and the great difficulty is to say Yes to life.”
James Baldwin (1924–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am not a black nationalist but some of my best friends are...Why aren't I a black nationalist? Because I don't believe it is enough to be black-one has to be human as well. We did not struggle for four hundred years just to become like the white man". (1985)”
James Baldwin (1924–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Shells used to come bursting on my bed at midnight, even though Nancy shared it with me; strangers in daytime would assume the faces of friends who had been killed... I could not use a telephone, I felt sick every time I travelled by train, and to see more than two new people in a single day prevented me from sleeping.”
Robert Graves (1895–1985) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch.26 On being at home in Harlech in 1919. During the First World War, the mental effects of war on the fighting men were called shell shock or neurasthenia — or dismissed altogether as cowardice. Graves describes very …
“Home is the resort Of love, of joy, of peace, and plenty; where Supporting and supported, polished friends And dear relations mingle into bliss.”
James Thomson (poet, born 1700) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The lovely young Lavinia once had friends; And fortune smil'd, deceitful, on her birth.”
James Thomson (poet, born 1700) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The notion that I might have been able to court friends, win attention, conjure it, would have spoiled it for me. Unbidden love was what I wanted.”
Edmund White (1940–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He and Marilyn were lovers, but this was never said in so many words. Explicitness about one’s romantic arrangements had apparently been deemed gauche. In my middle-class teen-age world, the whole apparatus of going steady, exchanging ID bracelets, smooching at dances, fighting, breaking up, submitting to the arbitration of friends — that was the point, the public drama.”
Edmund White (1940–2025) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: My Women, The New Yorker, 6 June 2005