While you may have many people you call “friends,” it can feel so rare to come across someone who is a real friend, through and through. A true friend sticks with you when times are tough, want the best for you, and allow you to be your complete self.
If you have a true friend like this, you’re lucky. Having a best friend adds so much joy to life. They may be the first you call with good news, bad news, and everything in between. They may be near or far, long time friends, or new friends that you feel you’ve known forever.
Whatever the case, these 44 quotes about true friendship will remind you of the joy and value of having friends like these.
1. The Face of A True Friend
“Loyalty is the mask of fake friends and reality is the face of true friends”
― Sir P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar
2. There is Nothing I Would not Do
“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.”
― Jane Austen
3. Our Roots Will Always Be Tangled
“Growing apart doesn’t change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. I’m glad for that.”
― Ally Condie
4. Growing Separately Without Growing Apart
“The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.”
– Elisabeth Foley
5. True Friendship Multiplies the Good
True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island. . . to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.
– Baltasar Gracian
6. When Someone Loves You…
“When someone loves you, the way they talk about you is different. You feel safe and comfortable.”
― Jess C. Scott
7. True Friendship Resists Time
“True friendship resists time, distance, and silence.”
-Isabel Allende
8. Here’s to Good Friends
Here’s to good friends: one of life’s greatest treasures.
– Ingrid Goff-Maidoff, Friendship
9. One Good Friend
“One friend with whom you have a lot in common is better than three with whom you struggle to find things to talk about.”
– Mindy kaling
10. True Friendships Between Women
“Friendships between women, as any woman will tell you, are built of a thousand small kindnesses… swapped back and forth and over again,”
– Michelle Obama
11. A True Friend Walks In
“True friends walks in when the rest of the world has walked out.”
― Walter Winchell
12. Find Someone Who Is Happy For You
“The worst part of success is trying to find someone who is happy for you.”
― Bette Midler
13. The Capacity for Friendship
“The capacity for friendship is God’s way of apologizing for our families.”
― Jay McInerney
14. The Importance of a Best Friend
“Life is an awful, ugly place to not have a best friend.”
― Sarah Dessen
15. True Friendship is Rare
“Rare as is true love, true friendship is rarer.”
– Jean de la Fontaine
16. A True Friend Will Never Try to Change You
“A true friend who really loves you will never try to change you.”
― Germany Kent
17. Friendship Gives Value to Life
“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”
― C.S. Lewis
18. The Tremendous Act of Friendship
“Why did you do all this for me?’ he asked. ‘I don’t deserve it. I’ve never done anything for you.’ ‘You have been my friend,’ replied Charlotte. ‘That in itself is a tremendous thing.”
― E.B. White
19. True Friends and Your Self Worth
“True friends esteem you of greater worth than you feel deserving.
False friends demand you prove that worth.”
― Richelle E. Goodrich
20. True Friends Can Make You Laugh
“If you have good friends, no matter how much life is sucking , they can make you laugh.”
― Kristin Cast
21. A Sweet Friendship
“A sweet friendship refreshes the soul.”
-Proverbs 27:9
22. Fight For Your Friends
“I think if I’ve learned anything about friendship, it’s to hang in, stay connected, fight for them, and let them fight for you. Don’t walk away, don’t be distracted, don’t be too busy or tired, don’t take them for granted. Friends are part of the glue that holds life and faith together. Powerful stuff.”
― Jon Katz
23. Real Friendships are Solid
When friendships are real, they are not glass threads or frost work, but the solidest things we can know.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
24. Friendship is Worth The Effort
“Friendship takes work. Finding friends, nurturing friendships, scheduling face time, it all take a tremendous amount of work. But it’s worth it. If you put in the effort, you’ll see the rewards of positive friends who will make your life extraordinary.”
– Maya Angelou
25. Nothing Like a Good Friend
“There’s nothing like a really loyal, dependable, good friend. Nothing.”
– Jennifer Aniston
26. The Meaning of Friendship
“Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.”
― Muhammad Ali
27. True Friends Past, Present, and Future
“A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are.”
– Unknown
28. Real Friendships Move Through the Changes With You
Friends change . . . friendships change. Real friends move with these changes and talk about them as they are happening.
– Anne Wilson Schaeft
29. Friends Who Love the Same Books
“There are no faster or firmer friendships than those formed between people who love the same books.”
― Irving Stone
30. Friends Forever
“It seems they had always been, and always would be, friends. Time could change, but not that.”
– Winnie the Pooh
31. True Friends Really Listen
There is no better friendship booster than the ability to listen. The ability to show genuine interest in others is an admirable quality of a true friend.
– Phil Callaway
32. Lucky to Have a Good Friend
“If you have two friends in your lifetime, you’re lucky. If you have one good friend, you’re more than lucky.”
― S.E. Hinton
33. The Beautiful Impact of a Real Friend
“Some people arrive and make such a beautiful impact on your life, you can barely remember what life was like without them.”
-Anna Taylor
34. Don’t Chase True Friends
“Two things you will never have to chase: True friends & true love.”
― Mandy Hale
35. How True Friends Talk
“Candor is a compliment; it implies equality. It’s how true friends talk.”
― Peggy Noonan
36. Faithful Friends
“Words are easy, like the wind; Faithful friends are hard to find.”
― William Shakespeare, The Passionate Pilgrim
37. Best Friends and Your Best Stories
“A good friend knows all your best stories, but a best friend has lived them with you.”
– Unknown
38. A True Friend Softens a Tough Situation
“You’ll find yourself in a tough situation one day, and on that day only a true friend with soften the situation.”
― Aurora
39. Have One Person in Life That Always Tells the Truth
“You have to have one person in your life that you know would never do anything to steer you wrong. They may disagree with you. They could even break your heart, from time to time. But you have to have one person, at least, who you know will always tell you the truth.
You need one person who, when the shit hits the fan, grabs your stuff, throws it in the suitcase, and gets you away from the Italian prince.”
― Taylor Jenkins Reid
40. True Friends Leave Footprints on your Heart
“Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends leave footprints in your heart.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
41. The Bravery of True Friendship
Being brave enough to have true intimacy — true friendship — means being brave enough to show an “ugly” side of yourself to your beautiful friend, to talk about your jealousy.
– Mademoiselle
42. Hard Times Reveal True Friends
“It was easy to be a friend when times were good. It was in hard times that true friends revealed themselves. Their friendship had been forged in the hottest of fires and fused them into family.”
― Karen Brooks
43. Celebrate True Friends
“Celebrate true friends. They are a part of you that always sparkles.”
― Amy Leigh Mercree
44. True Friends Always Speak in Love
“True friends—those that want nothing for you but peace, harmony, and joy—sometimes more than you want it for yourself—will rise to the surface. Those are the ones to listen to and commune with. You will know their voice because it’s authentic as well, and it speaks with no ulterior motives or projections. It may not tell you pretty things, but it will always speak in love.”
― Akosua Dardaine Edwards