It was only in the first few years that she felt herself screaming silently, at times, for a glimpse of human ability, a single glimpse of clean, hard, radiant competence. She had fits of tortured longing for a friend or enemy with a mind better than her own.

God desires that man should be. God does not wish to be alone. The meaning of existence is the conquest of loneliness, the acquisition of kinship and nearness.

Temporary friends sometimes bring us to permanent blessings.

Behind you, leave your enemies. Beside you, keep your family. Around you, maintain your friends. Within you, cherish God.

It is wise to buy acquaintances, but foolish to buy friends.

Cheerfulness will help you draw strangers, cleverness will help gain acquaintances, faithfulness will help you keep companions, and kindness will help you multiply friends.

No tree becomes large without smaller trees hoping its branches get cut off.

In their presence, there's no need for continuous conversation, but you find you're quite content in just having them nearby.

Of all the things which wisdom provides to make us entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship.

Of all things which wisdom provides to make life entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship.

To eat and drink without a friend is to devour like the lion and the wolf.

I write this not for the many, but for you; each of us is enough of an audience for the other.