Bibliophiles are quick to describe books in language similar to the ways you would describe a trusted friend, and no doubt there are many classics we return to time and again, like a trusted confidant.
But these same favorite works can also give us the language to use in (gasp!) real life to express our love for friends and the joy they bring to our lives.
34+ Friendship Quotes to Help Express Gratitude
The next time you struggle to find the words of appreciation, admiration, love, and respect you want to share with a dear friend, just think back to many of the classics you have read.
And allow these authors to do the talking for you with some amazing book quotes!
Friendship is one of the most prevailing themes in literature, and history is also filled with examples of deep and abiding friendships between authors: J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis; Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald; and James Baldwin and Toni Morrison.
Writers have given us incredibly and moving stories of true friendship, whether between everyday folks like ourselves or characters beyond anything our wildest imaginations could conceive.
At the heart of these stories, there is always a glimpse of something we long for in our own lives. When it is found, these inspiring quotes may help us express our gratitude for those friends who consistently lift us up and make our worlds brighter by being in them.
Remember to never settle for less, when it comes to friendships, or you’ll regret it in the end.
The following are some of the most classic quotes for friendship from literature.
Quick Navigation:
- Beautiful Friendship Quotes
- Friendship Quotes About Love
- Sweet Friendship Quotes
- Friendship Quotes about Respect
- Most Famous Friendship Quotes
- Cute Friendship Quotes
- Short Friendship Quotes
- Funny Friendship Quotes
Literary Quotes About Friendship
(Note: Some of these quotes are not directly from literature)
1. Beautiful Friendship Quotes
Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451
We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is, at last, a drop which makes it run over; so, in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over.
Mario Puzo – The Godfather
Friendship is everything. Friendship is more than talent. It is more than the government. It is almost the equal of family.
Jane Austen – Northanger Abbey
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.
Khaled Hosseini – The Kite Runner
Not a word passes between us, not because we have nothing to say, but because we don’t have to say anything.”
J.K Rowling – Harry Potter, and the Sorcerer’s Stone
It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.
Willa Cather – My Mortal Enemy
It’s all very well to tell us to forgive our enemies; our enemies can never hurt us very much. But oh, what about forgiving our friends?
O. Henry – Heart of the West
No friendship is an accident.
2. Friendship Quotes About Love
Maya Angelou – Letter to My Daughter
A friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky – Crime and Punishment
We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken.
John Steinbeck – Of Mice and Men
I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.
Muriel Barbery – The Elegance of the Hedgehog
If you have but one friend, make sure you choose her well.
3. Sweet Friendship Quotes
Toni Morrison – Beloved
She is a friend of my mind. She gathers me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and gives them back to me in all the right order.
Hanya Yanagihara – A Little Life
Wasn’t friendship its own miracle, the finding of another person who made the entire lonely world seem somehow less lonely?
J.R.R. Tolkien – The Return of the King
I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam.
Stephanie Perkins – Anna, and the French Kiss
His friendship alone has strengthened me in a way that no one else ever has. He swept me from my room and showed me independence. In other words, he was exactly what I needed. I won’t forget it. And I certainly don’t want to lose it.
Alice Walker – The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart
She thought of how precious it was to be able to know another person over many years. There was an incomparable richness in it.
4. Friendship Quotes about Respect
E.B. White – Charlotte’s Web
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.
Stieg Larsson – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Friendship–my definition–is built on two things. Respect and trust. Both elements have to be there. And it has to be mutual. You can have respect for someone, but if you don’t have trust, the friendship will crumble.
5. Most Famous Friendship Quotes
Stephen Chbosky – The Perks of Being a Wallflower
We didn’t talk about anything heavy or light. We were just there together. And that was enough.
Aristotle – The Nicomachean Ethics
Without friends, no one would want to live, even if he had all other goods.”
Daniel Keyes – Algernon, Charlie, and I: A Writer’s Journey
There are a lot of people who will give money or materials, but very few who will give time and affection.
6. Cute Friendship Quotes
A.A. Milne – Winnie-the-Pooh
“I knew when I met you an adventure was going to happen.”
C.S. Lewis
Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought that no one but myself…’
Lisa Whelchel
There’s something about childhood friends that you just can’t replace.
Elbert Hubbard
A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.
7. Short Friendship Quotes
Henry David Thoreau – A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
The language of Friendship is not words, but meanings.
Susanna Kaysen – Girl, Interrupted
They were not perfect, but they were my friends.
R.J. Palacio – Wonder
It’s not enough to be friendly. You have to be a friend.
8. Funny Friendship Quotes
Markus Zusak – The Book Thief
A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship.”
Trisha Paytas
If I send you my ugly selfies, our friendship is real.
Derek J
Friendship is so weird…you just pick a human you’ve met and you’re like ‘Yep, I like this one’ and you just do stuff with them.
It’s hard to find a friend who’s cute, loving, generous, , caring, and smart. My advice to y’all is, don’t lose me.
Kentry d
You don’t have to be crazy to be my friend. I’ll train you.”
Conclusion
Many of our readers use these friendship quotes for their Instagram profiles– and that is 100% fine! We don’t mind you sharing them, in fact, that’s partly what they are here for.
Most of these are famous friendship quotes anyways– which means, we don’t own them.
Just spread the love, people.
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