Josephson Institute  >  Quotations Bank

Quotations: Loyalty, friendship, gratitude

You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, novelist, playwright, scientist and philosopher (1749-1832)

What do I owe to my times, to my country, to my neighbors, to my friends? Such are the questions which a virtuous man ought often to ask himself.
— Johann Kaspar Lavater, German poet and physiognomist (1741-1801)

Politeness is the art of choosing among one’s real thoughts.
— Adlai Stevenson II, politician, U.S. presidential candidate (1900-1965)

The value of marriage is not that adults produce children but that children produce adults.
— Peter de Vries, American novelist (1910-1993)

Morality is simply the attitude we adopt toward people whom we personally dislike.
— Oscar Wilde, Anglo-Irish wit and author (1854-1900)

The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings.
— Albert Schweitzer, German Nobel Peace Prize-winning mission doctor and theologian (1875-1965)

Never befriend the oppressed unless you are prepared to take on the oppressor.
— Ogden Nash, American poet (1902-1971)

If you want to work for world peace, go home and love your families.
— Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu), nun and founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity (1910-1997), Nobel Prize for Peace acceptance speech, 1979

Most people are good only so long as they believe others to be so.
— Friedrich Hebbel, German dramatist (1813-1863)

Those only are happy who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness; on the happiness of others, on the improvement of mankind, even on some art or pursuit, followed not as a means, but as itself an ideal end. Aiming thus at something else, they find happiness by the way.
— John Stuart Mill, 19th-century English philosopher and economist

Happy families are all alike. Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
— Count Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist (1828-1910), from Anna Karenina

Don't tell your friends their social faults; they will cure the fault and never forgive you.
— Logan Pearsall Smith, American writer (1865-1946)

Flattery makes friends, truth enemies.
— Spanish proverb

Only the shallow know themselves.
— Oscar Wilde, Anglo-Irish wit and author (1854-1900)

Friendship with oneself is all-important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else.
— Eleanor Roosevelt, American stateswoman, First Lady (1884-1962)

The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and will to carry on.
— Walter Lippmann, American journalist, author and public philosopher (1889-1974)

Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.
— Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), 28th U.S. President

New friends are silver, but old friends are gold.
— Unknown

When eating a fruit, think of the person who planted the tree.
— Vietnamese saying

Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.
— Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher (121-180 A.D.)

Loyalty oaths increase the number of liars.
— Noel Peattie

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.
— Cicero (Marcus Tullius), Roman orator, philosopher and statesman (106-43 B.C.)

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principle difference between a dog and a man.
— Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), American humorist, author and journalist (1835-1910)

Friendship, like credit, is highest where it is not used.
— Elbert Hubbard, American entrepreneur and philosopher (founder of the Roycroft firm) (1856-1915)

Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate.
— Thomas Hudson Jones, American sculptor (1892-1969)

If you don't appreciate it, you don't deserve it.
— Terry Josephson, 20th/21st-century motivational author

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
— Jesus (from the Bible, Matthew 22:39)

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
— Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), American humorist, author and journalist (1835-1910)

A taste for simplicity cannot last for long.
— Eugene Delacroix, French painter (1798-1863)

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
— Bible, Matthew 5:5

It is more shameful to distrust ones friends than to be deceived by them.
— François duc de la Rochefoucauld, French epigrammatist (1613-1680)

Punctuality is the politeness of kings and the duty of gentle people everywhere.
— Unknown

We can really respect a man only if he doesn’t always look out for himself.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German playwright, poet, novelist (1749-1832)

By being grateful, a man makes himself deserving of yet another kindness.
— Nigerian proverb

Don’t blame God for creating the tiger; thank him for not giving it wings.
— Ethiopian proverb

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.
— Cynthia Ozick, American writer

Unshared joy is an unlighted candle.
— Spanish proverb

The highest compact we can make with our fellow is – "Let there be truth between us two for evermore."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, philosopher and poet (1803-1882)

Who lies for you will lie against you.
— Bosnian proverb

We're all in the same boat in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.
— GK Chesterton, English writer (1874-1936)

A thorn defends the rose, harming only those who would steal the blossom.
— Chinese proverb

An onion shared with a friend tastes like roast lamb.
— Egyptian proverb

Gratitude is the least of virtues, but ingratitude the worst of vices.
— French proverb

When people plant corn they are saying, let's stay here. And by their connection to the land, they are connected to one another.
— Anne Raver, writer, environmentalist

A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.
— Japanese proverb

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.
— William Shakespeare, English poet and playwright (1564-1616)

If you have nothing else to offer me, offer me your smile.
— Chinese proverb

It is better to be loved than feared.
— Senegalese proverb