Shared Wisdom: Words of Love and Friendship

I love finding quotations that speak of love and friendship.  Whenever I read them they remind of the great blessings I have in my many friends and the gift that I receive when someone loves me.  I believe that these are human manifestations of what God feels toward us.  So here are a few quotations that caught my attention and my heart’.

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”      (Martin Luther King)

“Too many of us stay walled because we are afraid of being hurt.  We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.”     (Eleanor Roosevelt)

“The supreme happiness of life is the conviction of being loved for yourself, or more correctly, of being loved in spite of yourself.”   (Victor Hugo)

“For whoever knows how to return a kindness he has received, must be a friend above all price.”    (Sophocles)

“Like everyone else I feel the need of relations and friendship, of affection, and I am not made of stone or iron, so I cannot miss these things without feeling, as does any other intelligent man, a void and deep need.  I tell you this to let you know how much good your visit has done me.”     (Vincent Van Gogh)

“Today a new sun rises for me; everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it.”    (Anne De Lenclos)

“Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit.”     (Aristotle)

And this last one I treasure most of all.

“Human love and the delights of friendship, out of which are built the memories that endure, are also to be treasured up as hints of what shall be hereafter.”    (Bede Jarrett)

So as we approach Thanksgiving Day, I will offer a gratitude for all the people who love me and for the friendships that bring me so much joy.