It is at moments of need that one learns who one's friends are. Defeated armies learn their lesson.

Friends must always be treated as if one day they might be enemies.

If friends disappoint you over and over, that's in large part your own fault. Once someone has shown a tendency to be self-centered, you need to recognize that and take care of yourself; people aren't going to change simply because you want them to.

A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man, that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of his friends, and that the most liberal professions of good will are very far from being the surest marks of it. I should be happy that my own experience had afforded fewer examples of the little dependence to be placed upon them.

I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.

I distrust the wisdom if not the sincerity of friends, who would hold my hands while my enemies stab me.