Love and esteem are the first principles of friendship it is always imperfect if either of these two are wanting. – Eustace Budgell
Friendship is a strong and habitual inclination in two persons to promote the good and happiness of one another. – Eustace Budgell
The friend within the man is that part of him which belongs to you and opens to you a door which never, perhaps, is opened to another. Such a friend is true, and all he says is true; and he loves you even if he hates you in other mansions of his heart. – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Wisdom of the Sands, translated from French b