A woman can become a man's friend only in the following stagesöfirst an acquaintance, next a mistress, and only then a friend.

-Chekhov, Anton
  Uncle Vanya, act 2.

O thou, the friend of man assigned, With balmy hands his wounds to bind, And charm his frantic woe: When first Distress with dagger keen Broke forth to waste his destined scene, His wild unsated foe!

-Collins,William
  Odes on Several Descriptive and  Allegoric Subjects,'Ode to Pity', no.1.

Now we know nothing, nothing is richer now Because of all he was.O friend we have loved Must it be thus with you?öand if it must be How can men bear laboriously to live?

-Cornford, Frances ne¤  e Darwin
  'Rupert Brooke'.

The man that hails youTom 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.

-Cowper,William
  Poems,'Friendship', l.169^74.

'Eternity' is there, We say, as of a station. Meanwhile, he is so near, He joins me in my Rambleö Divides abode with meö No Friend have I that so persists As this Eternity.

-Dickinson, Emily Elizabeth
Complete Poems, no.1684 (first published1914).

Choose an author as you choose a friend.

-Dillon,Wentworth
  Essay on Translated Verse, l.96.

To find a friend one must close one eye. To keep himötwo.

-Douglas, (George) Norman
Almanac.

Fallen from his high estate, And welt'ring in his blood: Deserted at his utmost need By those his former bounty fed; On the bare earth expos'd he lies, With not a friend to close his eyes.

-Dryden,John
  Alexander's Feast, l.78^83.

A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.

-Emerson, RalphWaldo
Essays: First Series,'Friendship'.

The only reward of virtueisvirtue; theonly way tohavea friend is to be one.

-Emerson, RalphWaldo
Essays: First Series,'Friendship'.

O friend unseen, unborn, unknown, Student of our sweet English tongue, Read out my words at night, alone: I was a poet, I was young.

-Flecker,James Elroy
  'To a Poet  a ThousandYears Hence'.

I hate the idea of causes, and if I had to choose between betraying my countryand betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.

-Forster, E(dward) M(organ)
Two Cheers for Democracy,'What I Believe'.

Asthe friend of the negro assumes that one man cannot, by right, hold another in bondage, should the friend of woman assume that man cannot, by right, lay even well- meant restrictions on woman.

-Fuller, (Sarah) Margaret, Marchioness Ossoli
  'The Great Lawsuit', in Dial, vol.4,  Jul.

England is a great and powerful nation, foremost in human progress, enemy to despotism, the only safe refuge for the exile, friend of the oppressed. If ever England should be so circumstanced as to require the help of anyally, cursed be the Italian who would not step forward with me in her defence.

-Garibaldi, Giuseppe
  Letter,12  Apr.

Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy.

-Golding, Sir William (Gerald)
  Lord of the Flies, ch.12.

I have the most reliable friend that you can have in American politicsöready money.

-Gramm, Phil (William Philip)
  On seeking presidential nomination. In the NewYork Times, 23  Apr.

   A favourite has no friend!

-Gray,Thomas
  Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes, l.36.

Sois donc ami since'  re ou since'  re ennemi, Et ne reste pas tra|"tre et fide'  le a'   demi. Be either a sincere friend or a sincere enemy, And never be half-traitor and half-faithful.

-Hugo,Victor Marie
  Cromwell, act1, sc.1.

Greater lovethanthis,hesaid, nomanhaththat a manlay down his wife for his friend.Go thou and do likewise. Thus, or words to that effect, saith Zarathustra, sometime regius professor of French letters to the university of Oxtail.

-Joyce,James Augustine Aloysius
  Ulysses.

The monster was indeed the best friend I could ever have.

-Karloff, Boris originally  William Henry Pratt
On his success as Frankenstein's monster. Quoted in Connoisseur,  Jan1991.