Choice of Friendship

First on thy friend deliberate with thyself, Pause, ponder, sift; not eager in the choice, Nor jealous of the chosen: fixing, fix;-- Judge before friendship, then confide till death.

_Young_

The highest friendship must always lead us to the highest pleasure.

_Fielding_

Friendship demands a religious treatment. We must not be wilful, we must not provide. We talk of choosing our friends, but friends are self-elected. Reverence is a great part of it.

_Emerson_

Friendship with the upright; friendship with the sincere; and friendship with the man of much observation: these are advantageous.

Friendship with the man of specious airs; friendship with the insinuatingly soft; and friendship with the glib-tongued: these are injurious.

_Confucius_

Oh, be my friend, and teach me to be thine!

_Emerson_

My friends have come to me unsought; the great G.o.d gave them to me.

_Emerson_

The 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, unfledged comrade.

_Shakespeare_

He makes no friend who never made a foe.

_Tennyson_

Who friendship with a knave hath made Is judg'd a partner in the trade.

_Gay_

A man's friends are his magnetisms.

_Emerson_

A good man is the best friend, and therefore soonest to be chosen, longer to be retained, and, indeed, never to be parted with, unless he cease to be that for which he was chosen.

_Jeremy Taylor_

Friendship sealed by companionship in sin will not last long.

_Arnot_

Eschew that friend, if thou art wise, Who consorts with thy enemies.

_Saadi_

Friendship requires a steady, constant, and unchangeable character, a person that is uniform in his intimacy.

_Plutarch_

Divine Friendship

Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

_John_ xv. 14

His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

_Canticles_ v. 16

He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the King shall be his friend.

_Proverbs_ xxii. 11

It is said that when he came to die, the last words of the American President Edwards, after bidding his weeping relatives good-bye, were: "Now where is Jesus of Nazareth, my true and never-failing Friend?" So saying he fell asleep.

_Anon_

Reality of Friendship