Friends

Friends means different things to different people. But in the military community,

the relationship between friends intensifies as we all deal with the emotional aspects

 of frequently living apart from our spouses.

This page is dedicated to friends everywhere who might not realize

 just how special they are.

Make new friends, but keep the old.  The worth of true friendship exceeds that of gold.  Unk

Friends are the angels who lift us up when our wings forget how to fly.  Unk

Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.  Victor Borge

A friend is, as it were, a second self.  Cicero

In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and sharing of pleasures. Kahlil Gibran

Shared joy is double joy, shared sorrow is half sorrow.  Swedish proverb

Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition.  Alexander Smith

A single rose can be my garden.. A single friend, my world.  Leo Buscaglia

We wove a web in childhood.  A web of sunny air.  Charlotte Bronte

The road to a friend's house is never long.  Danish Proverb

Good times made better and bad times forgotten due to the healing magic of friendship.  Maeve Binchy

Without the human community, one single human being cannot survive. Dalai Lama

   A friendship can grow on the most unlikely and barren ground.  Maeve Binchy

   Kind words can be short and easy to speak... but their echoes are truly endless.  Mother Theresa

   For memory has painted this perfect day, with colors that never fade.  Carrie Jacobs Bond

Some people move our souls to dance.  Unknown

Real friends are those who, when you've made a fool of yourself, 

don't feel that you've done a permanent job.  Erwin T. Randall

Joy is not in things, it is in us.  Richard Wagner

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.  Maori Proverb

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. 

 They must be felt with the heart. Helen Adams Keller

Hold a true friend with both your hands.  Nigerian Proverb

Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow.  Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. 

Just walk beside me and be my friend.  Albert Camus

Photo Credits:  Kim Anderson

What Is A Friend?

What is a friend?  I will tell you.  It is a person with whom you are to be yourself. 

Your soul can be naked with him.  He seems to ask of you to put on nothing, 

only to be what you are.  He does not want you to be better or worse.  

When you are with him, you feel as a prisoner feels who has been declared innocent. 

 You do not have to be on your guard.  You can say what you think, 

so long as it is genuinely you.  He understands those contradictions in your nature 

that lead others to misjudge you.  With him you breathe freely.  

You can avow your little vanities and envies and hates and vicious sparks,

 your meannesses and absurdities and, in opening them up to him, they are lost, 

dissolved on the white ocean of his loyalty.  He understands. 

You do not have to be careful.  You can abuse him, neglect him, tolerate him. 

 Best of all, you can keep still with him.  It makes no matter. 

 He likes you - He is like fire that purges to the bone.  He understands. 

 You can weep with him, sin with him, laugh with him, pray with him.  

Through it all - and underneath - he sees, knows and loves you.  A friend?  

What is a friend?  Just one, I repeat, with whom you dare to be yourself. ...

C. Raymont Beran.