Friendships are fragile things, and require as much handling as any other fragile and precious thing.

Really to believe in human nature while striving to know the thousand forces that warp it from its ideal development-to call for and expect much from men and women, and not to be disappointed and embittered if they fall short- to try to do good with people rather than to them- this is my religion on its human side. And if God exists, I think that he must be in the warm sun, in the kindly actions of the people we know and read of, in the beautiful things of art and nature, and in the closeness of friendships.

We may by our excessive prudence squeeze out of the life we are guarding so anxiously all the adventurous quality that makes it worth living.

Good friendships are fragile things and require as much care as any other fragile and precious thing.

A man with few friends is only half-developed; there are whole sides of his nature which are locked up and have never been expressed. He cannot unlock them himself, he cannot even discover them; friends alone can stimulate him and open him.