Real Friendship Quotes

“Being in love with your best friend is problematic.”
― J.M. Richards, Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“As much as I cared about him, I wasn’t a slave to fate. I could choose to ignore my feelings, strong as they were. It would be painful, but no more so than letting myself pine for my friend.”
― J.M. Richards, Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“You shouldn’t have to pretend to be as excited as I am just to make me happy. If it comes to that, you shouldn’t have to pretend to be anything around me. Friends should be real with each other”
― J.M. Richards, Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“I got through it, and I wore it like a badge of honor—I Can Be Alone and it's Okay.”
― J.M. Richards, Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“At the end of the day, there are very few people around you who truly want to see you peaceful, happy and content. Most of your friends only want to see you happy, peaceful and content, in ratio to their own happiness, peace and contentment. It's like, "Yeah, I want all your dreams to come true and I want to see you smile, but only for as much as I smile and only in proportion to how many of my own dreams come true." That's what people today call, "friendship" and "care". It's not really friendship and it's not really care. Then there's like one or two people who would celebrate your own happiness and success even if it's out of proportion to their own. And that's a real blessing right there, that's a real friendship.”
― C. JoyBell C.

“I know he’s a realist, he’s okay with being alone, and he helps people when he thinks no one is watching.”
― J.M. Richards, Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“I Can Be Alone and it's Okay.”
― J.M. Richards, Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“A true friend is someone you can count on no matter what.”
― Bohdi Sanders, Modern Bushido: Living a Life of Excellence

“I suppose that means you don’t want any band-aids, either,” I said, a touch more bitterly than I’d meant to.”
― J.M. Richards, Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“When the moment shifts, and you realize you don't actually want to be alone, that underneath the bravado is an ache that won’t quite fade away, you’re not only aware of how lonely you are, but how much you've been lying to yourself.”
― J.M. Richards, Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“Stop wearing that mask that is trying to be a match for everybody, and realise that you have to have more of a 1s and 10s model. A 1s and 10s model means that if you want to be a 10 for somebody you have to risk being a 1 for somebody else. [...] You wanna express who you really are.”
― Steve Pavlina

“I had always thought that I was fine with being alone. Halfway through high school, I moved from Brazil to America, and it took me forever to make friends. I had culture shock of virtually every kind, besides which I was awkward, geeky, and shy. So I ate alone, telling myself that it was fine while I watched other people have normal conversations with their friends.”
― J.M. Richards, Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“Well, if you can accept that I’m a great big geeky fangirl, then I guess I can accept that you’re a skeptic and a realist.”
― J.M. Richards, Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“It's funny. When we first started hanging out I didn't want Ashley to think I was a pig, so I was careful not to eat too much in front of her....Now, I don't even think about it.”
― Natasha Friend, Perfect

“It was nice. Even in high school, I’d mostly had makeshift friends forged by the shared status of outcast. It was rare for me to discuss things so easily to someone outside of my family, but somehow Jill got me.”
― J.M. Richards, Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“If you genuinely care about someone, you won’t let them ruin themselves. It’s as simple as that.
Don’t use your ‘supportive friend’ excuse to justify your ignorance.
If someone in your life is living a self-destructive lifestyle, don’t encourage them. Don’t stand on the sidelines and watch. Do something.
Tell them they’re worth more than that. That they’re bigger than what they’re facing. Tell them there are better ways to heal. Better ways to grow.
Tell them they can be friends with better people.Tell them there’s no escape from reality but it only gets better if you face it. Tell them they’re killing themselves slowly by intaking drugs.
Tell them you love them and don’t want them to get hurt. Tell them that you care.

Do. Everything. You. Can.
Because even if they may not listen, at least you’ll know you tried.”
― Ambu

“I fear the name of friendship is often degraded to a kind of intimacy that has nothing of real friendship in it.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea

“I bundled in my own blanket and reflected on the strange and somewhat unexpected friendship that was slowly developing between Davin and myself. It was clear to me that he needed a friend, but for reasons unknown to me, thought that it was better for him to be alone.”
― J.M. Richards, Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“A fine giornata ci sono poche persone intorno a voi che vogliono veramente vedervi sereni, felici e contenti. La maggior parte dei vostri amici vogliono vedervi felici, sereni e contenti solo in ragione delle loro felicità, pace e soddisfazione. Come a dire: “Certo, io voglio che tutti i tuoi sogni si avverino e voglio vederti sorridere, ma solo nella misura in cui io sorrido e solo in proporzione a quanti dei miei sogni si realizzeranno.” Questo è ciò che la gente oggi chiama "amicizia" e "preoccupazione". Non è veramente amicizia e non è veramente preoccupazione.
Poi ci sono una o due persone che festeggerebbero la vostra felicità e il vostro successo anche al di fuori di tale paragone.
E quella è proprio una benedizione, perché è vera amicizia.”
― C. JoyBell C.

“Friends will always be there for the party. REAL friends will be there after the party...”
― Bray Love

“That’s who you really like. The people you can think out loud in front of.”
― John Green, An Abundance of Katherines

“So we did the only thing we knew to do. We got in the car and drove to Dallas to be at the funeral with Jen. As she and her family walked down the center aisle behind her dad's casket, she smiled at us despite the big tears that were rolling down her cheeks. And that's when I learned one of the most important lessons I've ever learned about what it means to be a good friend: you show up for your people. You don't wait for your friend to ask you to come; you get in your car and go. You don't have to know the right words to say, you don't have to offer sage wisdom about loss and love; you just show up. You hold her hand and hug her neck and wipe her tears. You let her know that you hurt because she is in pain, and you'd do anything to take it from her if you could. You listen.... You show up for your friend, in the good times and the bad times.”
― Melanie Shankle, Nobody's Cuter than You: A Memoir about the Beauty of Friendship

“And I realized it's kind of a metaphor for friendship in general- being willing to let someone see all your weaknesses and knowing they won't broadcast them to the world. Because life has a way of throwing things our way that aren't always pretty, and they can leave us vulnerable, hurting, and in desperate need of someone who will help us carry our burdens until we're safely on the other side.”
― Melanie Shankle, Nobody's Cuter than You: A Memoir about the Beauty of Friendship

“So just tell your friends the truth. Tell them you're angry, sad, annoyed, hurt, tired, anxious; that you'd rather eat poison than go to a birthday party at a fucking nightclub again, and that you'll just take them out for dinner instead.”
― Anne T. Donahue, Nobody Cares

“Don’t worry about outshining your friends, because your REAL friends will shine right along with you. Your wins are their wins, and their wins are your wins!”
― Stephanie Lahart

“Complete your world with those who wish to be in it.”
― Mitta Xinindlu

“That was the problem with all these butterfly-life-spanned girlfriends the scenarist brought with him. Driven by an impulse to become friends with everyone in the group, they asked too many personal questions and made too many personal comments, miserably failing to acknowledge that it was precisely the opposite, the lack of any serious and sincere interest in each other's privacy, which drew the group members to one another.”
― Elif Shafak, The Bastard of Istanbul

“When you are standing all alone,” she whispered, “the people who notice—those are the people who stand by your side”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World

“Polly was so forthright she blew right past Lauraʻs defenses and made them feel unnecessary. Laura didnʻt really understand the mechanics of it; one minute she was completely alone and feeling like crap, the next minute Polly was there and she was feeling better.”
― Abbi Waxman, Adult Assembly Required

“Someone might like you, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be there for you. They can love hanging out with you at happy hour, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to understand if you call them at two in the morning. In fact, the more people like you, the more likely they are to want you to be nothing except the things they like about you. But most people like being liked, so when they feel someone wants them around—and people will want you around if you’re giving them something—they try to please that person. They bend over backwards. You end up used, and used is not loved. Do you get that? Nobody has a lot of friends.”
― Addison Lane, Blackpines: The Antlers Witch: The Light in Her Dreams