1. Two men were out hunting in the northern U.S. Suddenly one yelled and the other looked up to see a grizzly charging them. The first started to frantically put on his tennis shoes that was in his back pack and his friend anxiously asked, "What are you doing? Don't you know you can't out run a grizzly bear?" "I don't have to out run a grizzly. I just have to you.
2. A friend is the first person who comes in when the whole world goes out.
3. A small boy defined a friend as "Someone who knows all about you and likes you just the same."
4. What is a friend? Friends are people with whom you dare to be yourself. They ask you only to be what you are. You do not have to be on your guard. You can say what you think, as long as it is genuinely you. Friends understand those contradictions in your nature that lead others to misjudge you. With them you breathe freely. You can avow your little vanities and envies and hates and vicious sparks, your meanness and absurdities, and in opening them up to friends, they are lost, dissolved on the white ocean of their loyalty. They understand. You can weep with them, sing with them, laugh with them, pray with them. Through it all--and underneath--they see, know, and love you. A friend? What is a friend? Just one, I repeat, with whom you dare to be yourself.