It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Often the magical elements in my books are standing in for elements of the real world, the small and magical-in-their-own-right sorts of things that we take for granted and no longer pay attention to, like the bonds of friendship that entwine our own lives with those of other people and places. – Charles de Lint

A friend is, as it were, a second self. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

Ones life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion. – Simone de Beauvoir