Don't give your family and friends the scraps you have left over while you give the world your best. The world will let you down in the end. It will take everything you have and disappear when you are in need.

But there is a [true, loving] friend who [is reliable and] sticks closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24)

It is very helpful for us to remember that "hurting people hurt people." I don't think very many people wake up every day with the thought in mind of purposely seeing how much they can hurt everyone in their life, yet that is often exactly what they do. Why? Usually because they are hurting and have unresolved issues in their own life.

The only way to have a friend is to be one. Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have learned that to be with those I like is enough

Smile. Have you ever noticed how easily puppies make human friends? Yet all they do is wag their tails and fall over.

I have no trouble with my enemies. I can take care of my enemies in a fight. But my friends, my goddamned friends, they're the ones who keep me walking the floor at nights!

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.

Nothing will encourage someone who is struggling more than your willingness to stand beside them and help sort it out with the wisdom God has given you.

One of the most important responsibilities in the Christian life is to care about others, smile at them, and be a friend to the friendless.

When it comes to biblical counseling, friendship is central to the counseling relationship because it is a key aspect of the Gospel. Paul's words display it; Jesus' actions approve it. In Jesus Christ, friendship has its ultimate — that is, it's paradigmatic — display. He sacrificially gave Himself for the good of those he befriended — people who were awkward and troubled types, people who did not offer Him anything particularly desirable in return.