90 Friends Quotes

Few TV shows have managed to etch themselves into popular culture quite like "Friends." From its iconic Central Perk setting to the unforgettable bond between the six main characters, "Friends" has left an enduring legacy of humor, heart, and countless quotable lines. Whether it's Chandler's sarcastic wit, Phoebe's quirky charm, or Joey's lovable antics, the show's dialogue has become an integral part of our daily lexicon. Dive in as we revisit some of the most memorable and beloved quotes that have defined this timeless series.

1. “It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

2. “Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” - Groucho Marx

3. “Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” - Mark Twain

4. “Everyone wants to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.” - Oprah Winfrey

5. “You can always tell a real friend: when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job.” - Laurence J. Peter

6. “A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud. I am arrived at last in the presence of a man so real and equal, that I may drop even those undermost garments of dissimulation, courtesy, and second thought, which men never put off, and may deal with him with the simplicity and wholeness with which one chemical atom meets another.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

7. “I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

8. “No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books.” - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

9. “It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.” - Mahatma Gandhi

10. “The first time I read an excellent book, it is to me just as if I had gained a new friend. When I read a book over I have perused before, it resembles the meeting with an old one.” - Oliver Goldsmith

11. “A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals the secret of some hidden treasure.” - Dalai Lama XIV

12. “Gracious acceptance is an art - an art which most never bother to cultivate. We think that we have to learn how to give, but we forget about accepting things, which can be much harder than giving.... Accepting another person's gift is allowing him to express his feelings for you.” - Alexander McCall Smith

13. “here's the thing about friends, I mean REAL friends: You can't just put up a poster at school and advertise for somebody and then hope you find the perfect one. It might work, I guess, but you'd look so pathetic and desperate that no one would want to be your friend, and so it would be kind of pointless” - Laura Preble

14. “I love everything that is old; old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines.” - Oliver Goldsmith

15. “Emtehan kon ke basi jame moradat bedahand Gkharabi cho mara lotfe to abad konad” - Hafez

16. “God, how we get our fingers in each other's clay. That's friendship, each playing the potter to see what shapes we can make of each other.” - Ray Bradbury

17. “Wherever I go, I'll always see you. You'll always be with me. And there's no happy ending coming here, no way a story that started on a night that's burned into my heart will end the way I wish it could. You're really gone, no last words, and no matter how many letters I write to you, you're never going to reply. You're never going to say good-bye. So I will. Good-bye, Julia. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for being you.” - Elizabeth Scott

18. “Wherever it is you may be, it is your friends who make your world.” - Chris Bradford

19. “I have really good instincts about friends.” - Nicole Richie

20. “Fai: *punches Kurogane* That was payback, Kuro-sama!Kurogane: *grins* You're gonna get punched out, you creep!” - Clamp

21. “And thus we all are nighingThe truth we fear to know:Death will end our cryingFor friends that come and go.” - Edwin Arlington Robinson

22. “You need a place just a click over middle range. Don’t want to go all-out first time, but you don’t want to run on the cheap either. You want atmosphere, but not stuffy. A nice established place.”“Bob, you’re going to give me an ulcer.”“This is all ammunition, Cart. All ammo. You want to be able to order a nice bottle of wine. Oh, and after dinner, if she says how she doesn’t want dessert, you suggest she pick one and you’ll split it. Women love that. Sharing dessert’s sexy. Do not go on and on about your job over dinner. Certain death. Get her to talk about hers, and what she likes to do. Then—”“Should I be writing this down?” - Nora Roberts

23. “Parting with friends is a sadness. A place is only a place.” - Frank Herbert

24. “If you hang out with chickens, you're going to cluck and if you hang out with eagles, you're going to fly.” - Steve Maraboli

25. “Go oft to the house of thy friend, for weeds choke the unused path.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

26. “On page 607, alluding to the end of my first marriage (and carefully remembering to state that that's none of his business), he very sweetly says that I 'might leave a wife, but not a friend.' Nice try. Neat smear. But he shouldn't be so sure....” - Christopher Hitchens

27. “I don't care about whose DNA has recombined with whose. When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching--they are your family.” - Jim Butcher

28. “I heard that when white folks go fishin they do somethin called 'catch and release.'Catch and release? I nodded solemnly, suddenly nervous and curious at the same time.'That really bothers me', Denver went on. 'I just can't figure it out. 'Cause when colored folks go fishin, we really proud of what we catch, and we take it and show it off to everybody that'll look. Then we eat what we catch...in other words, we use it to SUSTAIN us. So it really bothers me that white folks would go to all the trouble to catch a fish, when when they done caught it, just throw it back in the water.'He paused again, and the silence between us stretched a full minute. Then: 'Did you hear what I said?'I nodded, afraid to speak, afraid to offend.Denver looked away, searching the blue autumn sky, then locked onto me again with that drill-bit start. 'So, Mr. Ron, it occurred to me: If you is fishin for a friend you just gon' catch and release, then I ain't got no desire to be your friend.'I returned Denver's gaze with what I hoped was a receptive expression and hung on.Suddenly his eyes gentled and he spoke more softly than before: 'But if you is lookin for a REAL friend, then I'll be one. Forever.” - Ron Hall

29. “What if all everybody needed in the world was to be sure of one friend? What if you were the one, and you refused to say those simple words?” - Richard Russo

30. “Friends always forget those whom fortune forsakes.” - Charlotte Brontë

31. “It would be a mistake to suppose that all Urnings must be woman-haters. Quite the contrary. They are not seldom the faithfulest friends, the truest allies, and most convinced defenders of women.” - Otto de Joux

32. “We...we could be friends.'We COULD be rare specimens of an exotic breed of dancing African elephants, but we're not. At least, I'M not.” - Neil Gaiman

33. “The soul grows into lovely habits as easily as into ugly ones, and the moment a life begins to blossom into beautiful words and deeds, that moment a new standard of conduct is established, and your eager neighbors look to you for a continuous manifestation of the good cheer, the sympathy, the ready wit, the comradeship, or the inspiration, you once showed yourself capable of. Bear figs for a season or two, and the world outside the orchard is very unwilling you should bear thistles.” - Kate Douglas Wiggin

34. “People come, people go – they’ll drift in and out of your life, almost like characters in a favorite book. When you finally close the cover, the characters have told their story and you start up again with another book, complete with new characters and adventures. Then you find yourself focusing on the new ones, not the ones from the past.” - Nicholas Sparks

35. “There were rules among friends, commandments, really, and the most important one was Thou Shalt Not Lust After Thy Friend's Sister.” - Julia Quinn

36. “He didn't think he belonged here, so she was making him face some uncomfortable facts. People adapt. People change. You can grow where you're planted.” - Sarah Addison Allen

37. “There it was, Eve supposed. There was the answer to why people got tangled up with people. Because when you were down, when you were wallowing, someone you mattered to would ask if you were okay.” - J.D. Robb

38. “Friends are like bras, attached near your heart for support. Foes are like panties, deported, every now and then, when they get dirty.” - Santosh Kalwar

39. “In the consciousness that another mind reflects your thought, you find the keenest satisfaction. Here is the high office of a friend, and in these high experiences is the point of attachment.-- ” - Samuel McChord Crothers

40. “Nix still held Benny's hand, and her grip tightened to an almost crushing force, grinding his hand bones together. It hurt, but Benny would rather have cut that hand off than take it back at that moment. If it would help Nix through this, he'd give her a pair of pliers and a vise so she could do a proper job.” - Jonathan Maberry

41. “My mother used to say that there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet. She's now in a maximum security twilight home in Australia.” - Dame Edna Everage

42. “I am awfully greedy; I want everything from life. I want to be a woman and to be a man, to have many friends and to have loneliness, to work much and write good books, to travel and enjoy myself, to be selfish and to be unselfish… You see, it is difficult to get all which I want. And then when I do not succeed I get mad with anger.” - Simone de Beauvoir

43. “It may...be judged indecent in me to come forward on this occasion; but when I see a fellow-creature about to perish through the cowardice of her pretended friends, I wish to be allowed to speak, that I may say what I know of her character.” - Mary Shelley

44. “He thought about this for a second. "True. But if you never really make friends, you probably don't have anyone to be your 2 a.m. Which would kind of suck. I just looked at him as he stirred his soup, carrots spinning in the liquid. "Your what?" "Two a.m." He swallowed, then said, "You know. The person you can call at two a.m. and, no matter what, you can count on them. Even if they're asleep or it's cold or you need to be bailed out of jail...they'll come for you. It's, like, the highest level of friendship.” - Sarah Dessen

45. “If you can sit in silence with a person for half an hour and yet be entirely comfortable, you and that person can be friends. If you cannot, friends you'll never be and you need not waste time in trying.” - L.M. Montgomery

46. “Govinda was standing in front of him, dressed in the yellow robe of an ascetic. Sad was how Govinda looked like, sadly he asked: Why have you forsaken me? At this, he embraced Govinda, wrapped his arms around him, and as he was pulling him close to his chest and kissed him, it was not Govinda any more, but a woman, and a full breast popped out of the woman's dress, at which Siddhartha lay and drank, sweetly and strongly tasted the milk from this breast.” - Hermann Hesse

47. “Eternity is a long time to spend alone, without others of your kind.” - Cassandra Clare

48. “Friends never turn as enemies. If they did, they were never your friends at all.” - Hark Herald Sarmiento

49. “I am not, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, a good-natured man; that is, many things annoy me besides what interferes with my own ease and interest. I hate a lie; a piece of injustice wounds me to the quick, though nothing but the report of it reach me. Therefore I have made many enemies and few friends; for the public know nothing of well-wishers, and keep a wary eye on those who would reform them.” - William Hazlitt

50. “It is a good man who stands up for his friends, but an honorable man who stands up for his enemies.” - Violet Haberdasher

51. “You're very lucky... Friends are precious, powerful things - hard to earn, harder still to keep. You should thank this one for taking a chance on you.” - N.K. Jemisin

52. “She looked at him, his soft brown eyes and tall form, and contemplated raising herself on her toes and kissing his ear, or his cheek...Instead, impulsively before leaving, she reached up and smoothed his mussed hair.Mr. Bradford beamed.” - Heather Dixon

53. “Friends are the most important part of your life. Treasure the tears, treasure the laughter, but most importantly, treasure the memories.” - Dave Brenner

54. “Emma hung up and hugged her pillow tight to her chest. He shouldn't be making her feel this special and desired. He was just a friend. Right, just a friend. She wasn't even fooling herself anymore.” - Claire Matthews

55. “You know that you're a true friend when somebody says "But what about that wart on the end of his nose?" and your honest response is "What wart?". You see true friends accept you for what you are, wart and all.” - Jeffrey Michael

56. “80% of man's happiness is based on love - love for others, love for self, love for family, love for friends, love for work, love for nature, and love for being loved.” - Ogwo David Emenike

57. “We are both going to pray that we may live together all our lives and die the same day.” - L.M. Montgomery

58. “Fake friends are like shadows: always near you at your brightest moments, but nowhere to be seen at your darkest hourTrue friends are like stars, you don't always see them but they are always there.” - Habeeb Akande

59. “Books are like friends to me. Words come alive on the page.” - Beverly Lewis The Betrayal

60. “Life’s gonna kick you in the butt; that’s what it does. But if you gotta put up with this crap, the least you can expect is that your friends will stand by you. I mean, for crying in the night, what else are friends for but to help you make right what isn’t in life? (Kira, The Mishmorat)” - Richelle E. Goodrich

61. “So many people came into your life, and they were such a part of the everyday that it was impossible to imagine them gone until, one day, they were.” - Maryanne O'Hara

62. “There are people who are simply gifts to everyone they meet.” - Clara Kramer

63. “When I didn't have friends, I had books.” - Oprah Winfrey

64. “No person, trying to take responsibility for her or his identity, should have to be so alone. There must be those among whom we can sit down and weep, and still be counted as warriors.” - Adrienne Rich

65. “Part of me wanted this more than anything else in the world—to have someone to hang out with, be like everyone else for a while. The rest of me screamed to get the hell out of there, not to get sucked in.” - Rachel Ward

66. “You can put the girl in a relationship...," I began, putting my arm around her. "But you can't take the boy-crazy out of the girl," Cassie finished.” - Jocelyn Davies

67. “And every book, you find, has its own social group--friends of its own it wants to introduce you to, like a party in the library that need never, ever end.” - Caitlin Moran

68. “I'm not good at having friends. I mean, I can make myself useful to people. I can fit in. I get invited to parties and I can sit at any table I want in the cafeteria.But actually trusting someone when they have nothing to gain from me just doesn't make sense.All friendships are negotiations of power.” - Holly Black

69. “I cannot encourage any fabrication even for the sake of making people feel good. If I were to fabricate consciously and knowingly, I would not only be ordaining myself their enemy, but also ordaining myself God's enemy.” - Criss Jami

70. “Sometimes when I see people from high school I feel trapped in a persona I maintained then,' she says. 'Ten years have gone by, a dive changed a tremendous amount - both emotionally and in circumstance. So while my oldest relationships are incredibly dear, and it's true that they know me intimately, it can be freeing to have relationships built on exactly who you are at this moment.” - Rachel Bertsche

71. “You always knew after shitty things happened, who your friends really were.” - Jodi Picoult

72. “As Christians, we should be the best collaborators in the world. We should be quick to find unlikely allies and subversive friends, like Jesus did.” - Shane Claiborne

73. “You'll may not have all the things you'll want in the world, but the true love that you'll have for each other should be enough for you two to be thankful in life still.” - Jonathan Anthony Burkett

74. “There are friends, but they are people to spend time with, not people to share time with.” - David Levithan

75. “Sometimes there are stormy moments in your life when your friends do more than just walk with you; they become angels that carry you and protect you with their wings.” - Steve Maraboli

76. “Oh we'll know each other for forever' Bix said. 'The days of losing touch are almost gone.' 'What does that mean? ' Drew asks.'We're going to meet again in a different place,' Bix said. 'Everyone we've lost, we'll find. Or they'll find us.” - Jennifer Egan

77. “Pick the weeds and keep the flowers.” - Kelly Clarkson

78. “Have you ever felt really close to someone? So close that you can't understand why you and the other person have two separate bodies, two separate skins?” - Nancy Garden

79. “A friend drops their plans when you're in trouble, shares joy in your accomplishments, feels sad when you're in pain. A friend encourages your dreams and offers advice--but when you don't follow it, they still respect and love you.” - Doris Wild Helmering

80. “They seek each other out, these people of such specific like mind. They tell of how they found the circus, how those first few steps were like magic.” - Erin Morgenstern

81. “You know, maybe we don't need enemies.""Yeah, best friends aree about all I can take.” - Bill Watterson

82. “adulthood is depressing. for me at least. i cried at the death of every illusion harder than i cried at the death of friends.” - Darnell Lamont Walker

83. “Choosing friends based on how much money they have is like betting on a horse because you like its saddle.” - Stephen Smoke

84. “The one general theme I took away from that first week with my new friends, was that everyone had their issues. Life in its simplest form is an attempt to deal with and avoid potential impediments. Some families take dysfunction to lofty heights while other break apart like Oreos mixed in a blender.” - Phil Wohl

85. “A friend who shares is a friend who cares.” - American proverb.

86. “It's all about quality of life and finding a happy balance between work and friends and family.” - Philip Green

87. “It was around then that the phone rang. It was my friend Cee Cee, wanting to know if I cared to join her and Adam McTavish at the Coffee Clutch to drink iced tea and talk bad about everyone we know.” - Meg Cabot

88. “Then there are the simple things. The way she fits against my side when we’re sitting together. How she can silence my addled thoughts with one look. The sound of my name from her lips. The way she can make a moment, any moment, a thousands times better when she is there. How the simplest pleasures in life become exciting with the promise of sharing the experience with her.” - Erik Tomblin

89. “Just for the record, I have come to fear all of your ideas in advance, simply from having endured enough of them.” - Violet Haberdasher

90. “They were your friends?""Yes, they were my friends.""And they will leave you to suffer alone?""Now I see it.""And until this, were they friends you could trust?""I could trust them.""I see what you mean. You mean they were the kind of friends that a good man could choose, upright, hard-working, obeying the law?Tell me, were they such friends?And now they leave you alone?Did you not see it before?""I saw it.” - Alan Paton