Friends are the leaders of the bosom, being more ourselves than we are, and we complement our affections in theirs. A. B. Alcott.
Friends, like mushrooms, spring up in out-of-the-way places. Pr.
Friends may meet, / But mountains never greet. Pr.
Friends reveal to each other most clearly 10 exactly that upon which they are silent. Goethe.
Friends should associate friends in grief and woe. Tit. Andron., v. 3.
Friends should be weighed, not told. Coleridge.
Friends show me what I can do; foes teach me what I should do. Schiller.
Friends, such as we desire, are dreams and fables. Emerson.
Friends will be much apart. They will respect 15 more each other's privacy than their communion, for therein is the fulfilment of our high aims and the conclusion of our arguments.... The hours my friend devotes to me were snatched from a higher society. Thoreau.
Friendship can originate and acquire permanence only practically (pracktisch). Liking (Neigung), and even love, contribute nothing to friendship. True, active, productive friendship consists in this, that we keep the same pace (gleichen Schritt) in life, that my friend approves of my aims, as I of his, and that thus we go on steadfastly (unverrückt) together, whatever may be the difference otherwise between our ways of thinking and living. Goethe.