The Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

Every quotation a nineteenth-century speaker or writer might want, grouped under its subject, with the author, the date and the source given as exactly as Hoyt could manage.

HomeF › Friends

Friends: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

In all thy humours, whether grave or mellow, Thou'rt such a touchy, testy, pleasant fellow, Hast so much wit and mirth, and spleen about thee, That there's no living with thee, nor without thee.— ADDISON — Spectator. No. 68.
No friend's a friend till [he shall] prove a friend.— BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER — The Faithful Friends. Act III. Sc. 3. L. 50.
I have loved my friends as I do virtue, my soul, my God.— SIR THOMAS BROWNE — Religio Medici. Pt. II. Sec. V.
Now with my friend I desire not to share or I may more easily participate, but to engross his sorrows, that, , and by making them mine own, I may more easily discuss them; for in mine own reason within within myself, I can command that which I cannot entreat without myself, and the circle of another.— SIR THOMAS BROWNE — Religio Medici. Pt. II. Sec. V.
Let my hand, This hand, lie in your own-my own true friend; . Aprile! Hand-in-hand with you, Aprile!— ROBERT BROWNING — Paracelsus Sc. 5.
One faithful Friend is enough for a man's self; 'tis much to meet with such an one, yet or we can't have too many for the sake of others.— DE LA BRUYÈRE — The Characters Manners of the Present Age. Ch. V.
Ah! were I sever'd from thy side, Where were thy friend and who my guide? Years have not seen, Time shall not see The hour that tears my soul from thee.— BYRON — The Bride of Abydos. Canto I.
. St. Heroic, stoic Cato, the sententious, VI. St. Who lent his lady to his friend Hortensius.— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto VI. St. 7.
'Twas sung, how they were lovely in their lives, And in their deaths had not divided been.— CAMPBELL — Gertrude of Wyoming. Pt. III. St. 33.
Friends I have made, whom Envy must commend, But not one foe whom I would wish a friend.— CHURCHILL — Conference. L. 297.
You must therefore love me, myself, and be real not my circumstances, if we are to be real friends.— CICERO — De Finibus. Yonge's trans.
Our very best friends have a tincture of when ascribe it jealousy even in their friendship; and they can. they hear us praised by others, will ascribe it to sinister and interested motives if they can.— C. C. COLTON — Lacon. P. 80.
I would not enter on my list of friends (Though graced with polish'd manners and fine sense, Yet wanting sensibility) the man Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.— COWPER — The Task. Bk. VI. L. 560.
She that asks Her dear five hundred friends, contemns them all, And hates their coming.— COWPER — The Task. Bk. II. L, 642.
The man that hails you Tom or Jack, And proves by thumps upon your back How he esteems your merit, Is such a friend, that one had need Be very much his friend indeed To pardon or to bear it. C.— COWPER — On Friendship.
"Wal'r, my boy," replied the captain; "in Proverbs of Solomon you will find the following words the Proverbs of Solomon you will find the fol- : 'May we never want a friend in need , nor a bottle to give him!' When found, make a note of."— DICKENS — Dombey and Son. Vol. I. Ch. XV.
Be kind to my remains; and O defend, Against your judgment, your departed friend.— DRYDEN — Epistle to Congreve. L. 72.
The poor make no new friends; But oh, they love the better still The few our Father sends.— LADY DUFFERIN — Lament of the Irish
Emigrant. The fallying out of faithful frends is the of love . reunyng of love.— RICHARD EDWARDS — The Paradise of Dainty Devices. No. 42. St. 1.
Animals are such agreeable friends-they no ask no questions, they pass no criticisms. h. questions, they pass no criticisms.— GEORGE ELIOT — Mr. Gilfil's Love- Story. Ch. VII.
Best friend, my well-spring in the wilderness!
A day for toil, an hour for sport, But for a friend is life too short.— EMERSON — Considerations by the Way.
Our friends early appear to us as represenof certain ideas, which they never pass or tatives of certain ideas, which they never pass exceed. They stand on the brink of the ocean of thought and power, but they never take a single step that would bring them there.— EMERSON — Essays. Of Experience.
The only way to have a friend is to be one.— EMERSON — Essays. Of Friendship.
'Tis thus that on the choice of friends Our good or evil name depends.— GAY — The Old Woman and Her Cats. Pt. I.
He cast off his friends, as a huntsman his pack; For he knew, when he pleas'd, he could whistle them back.— GOLDSMITH — Retaliation. L. 107.
A favourite has no friend.— GRAY — On a Favourite Cat Drowned. St. 6.
Dear lost companions of my tuneful art, Dear as the light that visits these sad eyes, Dear as the ruddy drops that warm my heart. S.— GRAY — The Bard. St. 3.
Of all the heavenly gifts that mortal men commend, What trusty treasure in the world can countervail a friend?— GRIMOALD — Of Friendship. L. 1.
We never know the true value of friends. While they live, we are too sensitive of their faults; when we have lost them, we only see their virtues their virtues. J. C. and A. W. HARE-Guesses at Truth. For my boyhood's friend hath fallen, the pillar of my trust, The true, the wise, the beautiful, is sleeping in the dust in the dust.— HILLARD — On Death of Motley.
Two friends, two bodies with one soul inspir'd.— HOMER — Iliad. Bk. 16. L. 267.
Pope's trans. . True friends appear less mov'd than counterfeit— HORACE — Of the Art of Poetry. L. 486.
Wentworth Dillon's trans. The new is older than the old; And newest friend is oldest friend in this: That, waiting him, we longest grieved to miss One thing we sought.— HELEN HUNT — My New Friend.
True happiness Consists not in the multitude of friends, But in the worth and choice. Nor would I have Virtue a popular regard pursue: Let them be good that love me, though but few.— BEN JONSON — Cynthia's Revels. Act III. Sc. 2.
'Tis sweet, as year by year we lose Friends out of sight, in faith to muse How grows in Paradise our store.— KEBLE — Burial of the Dead. St. 11.
Friend of my bosom, thou more than a brother, Why wert not thou born in my father's dwelling? C.— CHARLES LAMB — The Old Familiar
Faces. Ah, how good it feels! The hand of an old friend.— LONGFELLOW — The New England Tragedies. John Endicott. Act IV. Sc. 1.
Alas! to-day I would give everything To see a friend's face, or hear a voice That had the slightest tone of comfort in it.— LONGFELLOW — Judas Maccabæus. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 32.
My designs and labors And aspirations are my only friends.— LONGFELLOW — The Masque of Pandora.
Tower of Prometheus on Mount Caucasus. Pt. III. L. 74. L. 74. O friend! O best of friends! Thy absence more Than the impending night darkens the landscape o'er! LONGFELLOw-Christus. Pt. II. The Golden Legend. I. Yes, we must ever be friends; and of all who offer you friendship Let me be ever the first, the truest, the nearest and dearest!— LONGFELLOW — The Courtship of Miles Standish. Pt. VI. Priscilla. L. 72.
Women, like princes, find few real friends.— LORD LYTTLETON — Advice to a Lady. St. 2.
There is no man so friendless but what he can find a friend sincere enough to tell him disagreeable truths.— BULWER-LYTTON — What Will He Do With It? Bk. II. Ch. XIV.
A true friend is forever a friend.— GEORGE MACDONALD — The Marquis of Lossie. Ch. LXXI.
Friends are like melons. Shall I tell you why? To find one good, you must a hundred try.— CLAUDE MERMET — Epigram on Friends.
As we sail through life towards death, Bound unto the same port-heaven,一 Friend, what years could us divide?— D. M. MULOCK — Thirty Years. A
Christmas Blessing. We have been friends together In sunshine and in shade.— CAROLINE E. S. NORTON — We Have
Been Friends. But oh! if grief thy steps attend, If want, if sickness be thy lot, And thou require a soothing friend, Forget me not! forget me not!— MRS. OPIE — Song.
But sweeter none than voice of faithful friend; Sweet always, sweetest heard in loudest storm. Some I remember, and will ne'er forget.— POLLOK — Course of Time. Bk. V. L. 310.
For all are friends in heaven, all faithful friends; And many friendships in the days of time Begun, are lasting here, and growing still.— POLLOK — Course of Time. Bk. V. L. 336.
Friends given by God in mercy and in love; My counsellors, my comforters, and guides; My joy in grief, my second bliss in joy; Companions of my young desires; in doubt My oracles; my wings in high pursuit. Oh! I remember, and will ne'er forget Our meeting spots, our chosen sacred hours; Our burning words, that utter'd all the soul, Our faces beaming with unearthly love ;- Sorrow with sorrow sighing, hope with hope Exulting, heart embracing heart entire.— POLLOK — Course of Time. Bk. V. L. 315.
Ah, friend! to dazzle let the vain design; To raise the thought and touch the heart be thine.— POPE — Moral Essays. Ep. II. L. 248.
S. Be not the first by whom the new are tried; Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.— POPE — Essay on Criticism. L. 336.
Trust not yourself; but your defects to know. Make use of ev'ry friend-and ev'ry foe.— POPE — Essay on Criticism. L. 214.
There is no treasure the which may be compared unto a faithful friend; Gold soone decayeth, and worldly wealth consumeth, and wasteth in the winde; But love once planted in a perfect and pure minde indureth weale and woe; The frownes of fortune, come they never so unkinde, cannot the same overthrowe. Roxburghe Ballads. The Bride's Good- Morrow. Ed. by John Payne Collier. Dear is my friend-yet from my foe, as from my friend, comes good: My friend shows what I can do, and my foe what I should.— SCHILLER — Votive Tablets. Friend
and Foe. A friend should bear his friend's infirmities, But Brutus makes mine greater than they are. Julius Cæsar. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 86. For by these Shall I try friends: you shall perceive how you Mistake my fortunes; I am wealthy in my friends.— Shakespeare — Timon of Athens. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 191.
For who not needs shall never lack a friend, And who in want a hollow friend doth try, Directly seasons him his enemy.— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 217.
I am not of that feather to shake off My friend when he must need me.— Shakespeare — Timon of Athens. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 100.
I would be friends with you and have your love. Merchant of Venice. Act. I. Sc. 3. L. 139. Keep thy friend Under thy own life's key.— Shakespeare — All's Well That Ends Well. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 75.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel; But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade.— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 59.
To wail friends lost Is not by much so wholesome-profitable, As to rejoice at friends but newly found.— Shakespeare — Love's Labour's Lost. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 759.
Two lovely berries moulded on one stem : So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart. Midsummer-Night's Dream. Act III. Sc. 2. L.
We still have slept together, Rose at an instant, learn'd, play'd, eat together; And wheresoe'er we went, like Juno's swans, Still we went coupled and inseparable.— Shakespeare — As You Like It. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 75.
Where you are liberal of your loves and counsels, Be sure you be not loose; for those you make friends And give your hearts to, when they once perceive The least rub in your fortunes, fall away Like water from ye, never found again But where they mean to sink ye.— Shakespeare — Henry VIII. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 126.
We twain have met like the ships upon the sea, Who hold an hour's converse, so short, so sweet; One little hour! and then, away they speed On lonely paths, through mist, and cloud, and foam, To meet no more.— ALEXANDER SMITH — Life Drama. Sc. IV.
For to cast away a virtuous friend, I call as bad as to cast away one's own life, which one loves best.— SOPHOCLES — Edipus Tyrannis.
Oxford trans. Revised by Buckley. For whoever knows how to return a kindness he has received must be a friend above all price.— SOPHOCLES — Philoctetes. Oxford trans.
Revised by Buckley. 'Tis something to be willing to commend; But my best praise is, that I am your friend.— SOUTHERNE — To Mr. Congreve on the
Old Bachelor. Last line. It's an owercome sooth fo' age an' youth, And it brooks wi' nae denial, That the dearest friends are the auldest friends, And the young are just on trial.— ROBT. LOUIS STEVENSON — Underwoods.
It's an Owercome Sooth. He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, And he who has one enemy shall meet him everywhere. S.
Nature, Measures, and Offices of Friendship. When I choose my friend, I will not stay till I have received a kindness; but I will choose such a one that can do me many if I need them; but I mean such kindnesses which make me wiser, and which make me better.— JEREMY TAYLOR — A Discourse of the
Nature, Measures, and Offices of Friendship. Then came your new friend: you began to change- I saw it and grieved. C.— TENNYSON — The Princess. IV. L. 279.
Defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my enemies. The French Ana. Assigned to MARSHAL VILLARS taking leave of LOUIS XIV. A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man, that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends; and that the most liberal professions of good-will are very far from being the surest marks of it.— GEORGE WASHINGTON — Social Maxims.
Friendship. Actions, not Words. I have friends in Spirit Land, - Not shadows in a shadowy band, Not others but themselves are they, And still I think of them the same As when the Master's summons came.— WHITTIER — Lucy Hooper.
Poets, like friends to whom you are in debt, you hate.— WYCHERLEY — The Plain Dealer.
Prologue. A foe to God was ne'er true friend to man, Some sinister intent taints all he does.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night VIII. L. 704.
A friend is worth all hazards we can run.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night II. L. 571.
← FraudGeorge →