Absent Friends Quotes

Absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends. ~ Ambrose Bierce

If the portraits of our absent friends are pleasant to us, which renew our memory of them and relieve our regret for their absence by a false and empty consolation, how much more pleasant are letters which bring us the written characters of the absent friend. ~ Heloise D'Argenteuil

Absence - that common cure of love. ~ George Gordon Byron

It is by the benefit of letters that absent friends are in a manner brought together. ~ Seneca The Younger

We have really no absent friends. ~ Elizabeth Bowen

Friends, though absent, are still present. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

And I'm up while the dawn is breaking, even though my heart is aching. I should be drinking a toast to absent friends instead of these comedians. ~ Elvis Costello

I often think of you all, one cannot do what one wants in life. The more you feel attached to a spot, the more ruthlessly you are compelled to leave it, but the memories remain, and one remembers - as in a looking glass, darkly - one's absent friends. ~ Vincent Van Gogh

I observed once to Goethe that when a friend is with us we do not think the same of him as when he is away. He replied, Yes! because the absent friend is yourself, and he exists only in your head; whereas the friend who is present has an individuality of his own, and moves according to laws of his own, which cannot always be in accordance with those which you form for yourself. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

We didn't waste one second of that day. We talked about the past. We talked about the future. And we danced. And we sang. And we toasted absent friends, as the stars shone through the night sky, like Amber's last gift. ~ Matthew Crow

Let us drink together, fellows, as we did in days of yore.
And still enjoy the golden hours that Fortune has in store;
The absent friends remembered be, in all that's sung or said,
And Love immortal consecrate the memory of the dead. ~ Albert Pike

An absent friend gives us friendly company when we are well assured of his happiness. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The man who backbites an absent friend, nay, who does not stand up for him when another blames him, the man who angles for bursts of laughter and for the repute of a wit, who can invent what he never saw, who cannot keep a secret
that man is black at heart: mark and avoid him. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

I think my soul never was in such an agony before. I felt no restraint, for the treasures of divine grace were opened to me. I wrestled for absent friends, for the ingathering of souls, for multitudes of poor souls, and for many that I thought were the children of God, in many distant places. I was in such an agony, for half an hour before sunset, till near dark, that I was all over wet with sweat: but yet is seemed to me that I had wasted away the day, and had done nothing. Oh!, my dear Savior did sweat blood for poor souls! ~ David Brainerd

Mirabelle replaces the absent friends with books and television mysteries of the PBS kind. The books are mostly nineteenth-century novels in which women are poisoned or are doing the poisoning. She does not read these books as a romantic lonely hearts turning pages in the isolation of her room, not at all. She is instead an educated spirit with a sense of irony. She loves the gloom of these period novels, especially as kitsch, but beneath it all she finds that a part of her indentifies with all that darkness. ~ Steve Martin

To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due. ~ Neil Gaiman

Therefore all just persons are satisfied with their own praise. They refuse to explain themselves, and are content that new actions should do them that office. They believe that we communicate without speech, and above speech, and that no right action of ours is quite unaffecting to our friends, at whatever distance; for the influence of action is not to be measured by miles. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

It's got you thinking - you've never really known anyone who's died of natural causes, have you? Parents and grandparents, plus friends and neighbors and casual lovers, they've all left you too early, and in such ghastly ways. Cancers and violence, accidents and congenital defects, aneurysms of the brain and psyche. You've heard of people who've slipped peacefully away in their sleep, or in their favorite easy chairs, after ripe octogenarian lives, but suspect they must be mythical, in the company of unicorns and mermaids. If you didn't know better, you'd think there was a deliberate methodology behind it all, a gradual pattern of calamity spiraling inward until, at last, you're the only one left to be dealt with. You could be expected to think that, but don't, because you still keep your wits about you, thank god - So to speak. ~ Brian Hodge

Stories are hard. I have friends who knock out stories on a weekly or monthly basis, like they're running on medicinal-strength Updike. But for me a story is as daunting a prospect as a novel. ~ Junot Diaz

To friends and books, and friends in books, may our stories be long and our friendships longer. ~ Molly MacRae

I remember going on carriage rides with Dad when we'd visit. I think quiet L.A. suited him better, but he loved to see shows here, he loved to visit his friends in the Hamptons. ~ Jennifer Grant

Kings have no friends,' Stannis said bluntly, 'only subjects and enemies.'
'And brothers,' a cheerful voice called out. ~ George R.R. Martin

Dare to love and to be a real friend. The love you give and receive is a reality that will lead you closer and closer to God as well as those whom God has given you to love. ~ Henri J.M. Nouwen

Friendship is love without its flowers or veil. ~ Augustus Hare

Let me get this straight," Tammy interrupted. "I asked some of my father's old government friends for help when 'accidents' kept happening to me, and someone sent a vampire to protect me?"
"Actually, two vampires," I corrected. "The ghost was a bonus. ~ Jeaniene Frost

Be careful who you choose as your friends because their bad habits can become your bad habits. Choose wisely ... we all have a choice in life. ~ Mimi Jenkins

I'm so honored to be on this recording with Ann & Nancy Wilson. They are iconic and I've truly been one of their biggest fans since I was a kid. And what a perfect song to sing with them, since I adore Vince Gill and have been very proud for his commitment to his own musical vision. When we were recording at Nancy's house, and even though I'm friends with those girls now, I had to keep 'pinching' myself and marvel at how blessed my life is! It was a very PROUD moment for me. ~ Deana Carter

I have some tremendous, tremendously loving, generous friends all over the world. ~ Michael Keaton

I used the principles of Kickstarter to make 'She's Gotta Have It.' We filmed that in 1985 to 1986. The final cost was $175,000. I didn't have that money. It was friends, grants, donations. We saved our bottles for the nickel deposit. ~ Spike Lee

That night, the booze felt great, as the warmth of the wine in my stomach spread through my body. I didn't like feeling stupid or out of control, but I liked the way it made everything (laughing, crying, peeing in front of your friends) easier. ~ John Green

Supposedly you could kill them by saying their name but a)how would you find it out in the first place,and b) its a little hard to talk when your lungs are slowly filling up with water. Still,legend had it they were occasionally benign,giving music lessons and even marrying mortals every now and again.
I didn't get the impression this one had any intentions of taking vows.
"So you aren't going to be best friends."
"I dunno-he could be fun at a pool party. Assuming you hated everyone you invited. ~ Kiersten White

[Karen:] Why would you want to be friends with him?
[Rylie:] He has good insight into the male psyche. Besides, he's fun to talk to.
[Karen:] He's fun to screw, too, that doesn't mean it's a good idea. ~ Jessica Lave

What If Following Her Heart Means Rose Could Lose Her Best Friend Forever? ~ Richelle Mead

I have a rotten habit of picturing the bedroom scenes of my friends. ~ Ernest Hemingway,

My friends all regarded me as a man of unsound mind because I held the view that my wife was with me in spirit always. I have lived with her spirit guiding me every day and she is with me now as I write this letter, and helps me to do as I am now doing. ~ Alex Campbell

Just across from Bismarck stood Fort Lincoln where friends and relatives of Custer's dead cavalrymen still lived, and these emigrating Sioux could perceive such bitterness in the air that one Indian on the leading boat displayed a white flag. Yet, in accordance with the laws of human behavior, the farther downstream they traveled the less hostility they encountered, and when the tiny armada reached Standing Rock near the present border of South Dakota these Indians were welcomed as celebrities. Men, women and children crowded aboard the General Sherman to shake hands with Sitting Bull. Judson Elliot Walker, who was just then finishing a book on Custer's campaigns, had to stand on a chair to catch a glimpse of the medicine man and reports that he was wearing "green wire goggles." No details are provided, so green wire goggles must have been a familiar sight in those days. Sitting Bull mobbed by fans while wearing green wire goggles. It sounds like Hollywood. ~ Evan S. Connell

On a perfect weekend, I'll stay in bed until I am rested, though I am not someone who sleeps late. Then I'll go for a run through the parks nearby, even if it is frosty and cold, and I love meeting friends for brunch. You know you are truly on a day off if you have time to do brunch. ~ Birgitte Hjort Sorensen

Going to Omaha for the College World Series - the people there are tremendous - huge crowds and a lot of excitement. I still remember those days - you make a lot of friends that you never forget when you win a championship like that. ~ Roger Clemens

Some of my friends would lie to girls to get them, or do things that - you know, they would cheat on girls. I was just never in the realm of what, you know, what's instilled to me, you know? Yeah, I mean, my mom's a social worker, for God's sakes. ~ Seth Rogen

In violence there is often the quality of yearning - the yearning for completion. For closure. For that which is absent and would if present bring to fulfillment. For the body without which the wing is a useless frozen ornament. ("A Short Guide To The City") ~ Peter Straub

Die in the desert! Not I! With a new vision, I saw the things that I must do. First I would go back to Babylon and face every man to whom I owed an unpaid debt. I should tell them that after years of wandering and misfortune, I had come back to pay my debts as fast as God would permit. Next I should make a home for my wife and become a citizen of whom my parents should be proud. "My debts were my enemies, but the men I owed were my friends for they had trusted me and believed in me. ~ George S. Clason

I often refer to myself as a gay man and all my friends are gay and I would like nothing more than for them to be able to be married. ~ Tori Spelling

I'm a grandmother with dogs and nice friends here in the Rocky mountains. Ever see the movie A River Runs Through It? That's where I live. It's beautiful, no two ways about it. ~ Margot Kidder

Slow down, and enjoy that stuff if it's possible. Kathy doesn't care what time I leave, only what time I clock out, and she knows sometimes I sleep here when I'm locked out, or have friends over. Everything's cool as long as I clock out on time."
She swallowed that big bite she'd rammed in, and said, "Okay. Jeez, I'm so hungry, this stuff is good."
Ketchup for your fries, miss? I can recommend it - it's my main source of vitamin C."
She smiled. "Sure. What does Kathy do if you clock out late?"
Well, a couple times I've fallen asleep and done it, and gotten off with a warning. Eventually, though, if I made a habit of it, I'd disappear in the middle of the night, and never be seen again, and the only clues the police would have would be a few orange hairs and some enormous shoe prints. But for a few weeks afterward, all over the country, the Quarter Pounders would taste just a little bit more like Lightsburg, Ohio. ~ John Barnes

How had he believed that nameless, faceless orgasms would ever satisfy him? He'd spent his life worshipping at the altar of a silent, absent god who promised everything but delivered something fleeting that always left him wanting. He'd trafficked in lust masquerading as eros. But nothing had been further from reality. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. ~ Sylvain Reynard

I always feel bad when I meet celebrities and I can just tell every single thing about their personal life, I just say, "Well, they don't have friends. Or a therapist." Once you have both, you don't have to share everything with people, because then you don't have a private life, and then you're, I guess, a workaholic. ~ John Waters

Among many of my friends and acquaintances, I seem to be one of the very few individuals who felt or feels no ambivalence about my mother. All my feelings for my mother were positive, very strong and abiding. ~ Joyce Carol Oates

Some people wanted to get rich or famous, but my friends and I wanted to get real. We wanted to get deep. (Also, I suppose, we wanted to get laid.) ~ Anne Lamott

I'm focused on doing what makes me happiest and on how I can make real improvements and contributions to my immediate niche, i.e. my family, friends, and local community. ~ Andrew Skurka

Both my parents said they never got so many emails from friends and colleagues - with all the theater work that I've done - than when I was on 'The Good Wife.' ~ Sarah Steele

The connections that we have with others, the things we learn, and yes, our prayers - all of it is a web of connections that bind us into the fabric of reality and make us part of something greater than ourselves. And if our reality is only a tiny reflection of a much greater reality, still it is also an essential part. And the same is true of each individual life. Each deed and thought - each word between friends - adds a new thread to a tapestry so vast that we may never be able to step back and see the whole. ~ Yael Shahar

A hallmark of domestic violence is a man feeling threatened by a woman's friends and attempting to control or limit a woman's social contacts, or to isolate her socially. ~ John M. Gottman

Maximilien,' the count said, 'the friends whom we have lost do not rest in the earth, they are buried in our hearts, and that is how God wanted it, so that we should always be in their company. I have two friends who are always with me, in that way: one is the man who gave me life, the other is the one who gave me understanding. The spirit of both lives in me. I consult them when I am in doubt and, if I have done any good, I owe it to their advice. Look into your heart, Morrel, and ask it if you should continue to show me that sorry face. ~ Alexandre Dumas

So many of my old friends, gathered in one place. ~ Leigh Bardugo