Cicero.

* * * * *

Not on the store of sprightly wine,
Nor plenty of delicious meats,
Though generous Nature did design
To court us with perpetual treats;
'Tis not on these we for content depend,
So much as on the shadow of a friend.

Menander.

* * * * *

Since human affairs are frail and fleeting, some persons must ever be sought for whom we may love, and by whom we may be loved; for when affection and kind feeling are done away with, all cheerfulness likewise is banished from existence.

Cicero.

* * * * *

Lying on lower levels is but a trivial offence compared with civility and compliments on the level of friendship.

Thoreau.