“Friendship is special because it is freely chosen. Our friends want us as their friend for our own sake. No other relationship, either professional or kinship, can give what friendship gives.”

“If we would build on a sure foundation in friendship, we must love our friends for their sakes rather than for our own.”

“But shouldn't all of us on earth give the best we have to others and offer whatever is in our power?”

“It is not what you give your friend, but what you are willing to give him that determines the quality of friendship.”

“A friend...risks her friendship for the sake of her friend.”

“What our closest friends do for us is to teach us true selflessness. We learn that while it might be safer for them if we keep them out, true friendship means letting them in. We cannot decide for them what they are willing to suffer with us and for us. While we certainly don't want to see our friends suffer, friendship isn't about protecting each other from pain so much as it is about helping each other to become what God has called us to be.”

“It's not right for one friend to do all the giving and the other to do all the taking: that's not read friendship.”