Will you be my friend, my friend of friends,
beyond every one, everything,
forever and forever?
–Henry James, The Bostonians



Each friend represents in us,
a world possibly not born until they arrive,
and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.
–Anaïs Nin, diary, March 1937



Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person…
–Dinah Maria Mulock Craik



Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls;
for, thus absent friends speak.
–John Donne, “Letter to Sir Henry Wotton”