Befriending Quotes

• Loving kindness towards ourselves doesn't mean getting rid of anything. It means we can still be crazy after all these years. We can still be angry after all these years. We can still be timid or jealous or full of feelings of unworthiness. The point is not to try to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.

  Pema Chodron

  Kindness, Crazy, Jealous

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• We all need support and friendship, regardless of circumstances. But where do people turn when friends and family are simply no longer there, or can't help us through a difficult time, or need all our care and attention and can't give us any in return? Thank goodness for befriending projects, who help fill the empty spaces where care, support and a listening ear need to be.

  Nicola Sturgeon

  Listening Ear, Space, People

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• There are many strengths in modern society, but one of its weaknesses is the breakdown of many of the old structures and networks that supported people in times of crisis and need. Whenever we lose a strengthening element in society, we need to replace it with alternative systems as quickly as possible. Befriending schemes are a crucial part of this process, because they fill the gap that social erosion has left in the lives of so many vulnerable people.

  Richard Holloway

  Erosion, People, Alternatives

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• Befriending provides a valuable lifeline to many people who feel isolated in their communities often as a result of ill health or poverty. I would like to thank all those who volunteer as befrienders and I hope that your numbers will increase in coming years. Your kindness and hard work is, I know, very much appreciated by those you help.

  Charles Kennedy

  Kindness, Hard Work, Years

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• May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind quickly be freed from their illnesses. May those frightened cease to be afraid, and may those bound be free. May the powerless find power, and may people think of befriending each other. May those who find themselves in trackless, fearful wilderness- the children, the aged, the unprotected- be guarded by beneficent celestials, and may they swiftly attain Buddhahood.

  Gautama Buddha

  Buddhist, Children, Thinking

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• There is little favorable to be said about poverty, but it was often an incubator of true friendship. Many people will appear to befriend you when you are wealthy, but precious few will do the same when you are poor. If wealth is a magnet, poverty is a kind of repellent. Yet, poverty often brings out the true generosity in others.

  Nelson Mandela

  Friendship, Wise, Wisdom

  FaceBook post by Nelson Mandela from May 18, 2015

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• It's probably a bit of a power trip when you befriend somebody enough that they trust you to tell you things.

  Josh Brolin

  Enough, Power Trip, Bits

  "Josh Brolin can't be broken" by Phoebe Eaton, www.today.com. November 8, 2007.

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• Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already. The ground of practice is you or me or whoever we are right now, just as we are. That’s the ground, that’s what we study, that’s what we come to know with tremendous curiosity and interest.

  Pema Chodron

  Meditation Practice, Curiosity, Trying

  Pema Chodron (2001). “The Wisdom of No Escape: And the Path of Loving Kindness”, p.2, Shambhala Publications

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• When befriended, remember it; when you befriend, forget it.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Gratitude, Remember, Forget

  Benjamin Franklin (2007). “Poor Richard's Almanack”, p.27, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.

  Pema Chodron

  Practice, Meditation And Yoga, Trying

  Pema Chodron (2001). “The Wisdom of No Escape: And the Path of Loving Kindness”, p.2, Shambhala Publications

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• My life is simple, my food is plain, and my quarters are uncluttered. In all things, I have sought clarity. I face the troubles and problems of life and death willingly. Virtue, integrity and courage are my priorities. I can be approached, but never pushed; befriended but never coerced; killed but never shamed.

  Yi Sun-sin

  Life, Courage, Badass

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• If you wish to befriend someone, look for a person who loves first God then themselves. If they love God, they will be able to love their neighbor, too.

  Peter Deunov

  Wish, Looks, Able

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• Befriending the life in others is sometimes a complex matter. There are times when we offer our strength and protection, but these are usually only temporary measures. The greatest blessing we offer others may be the belief we have in their struggle for freedom, the courage to support and accompany them as they determine for themselves the strength that will become their refuge and the foundation for their lives. I think it is especially important to believe in someone at a time when they cannot yet believe in themselves. Then your belief will become their lifeline.

  Rachel Naomi Remen

  Friendship, Believe, Struggle

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• We must reach out our hand in friendship and dignity both to those who would befriend us and those who would be our enemy.

  Arthur Ashe

  Friendship, Hands, Enemy

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• There is no halfway or lackadaisical way to fight lust. If you're not fighting your sin, you're befriending your sin.

  Trip Lee

  Fighting, Lust, Way

  Trip Lee (2015). “Rise: Get Up and Live in God's Great Story”, p.113, Thomas Nelson Inc

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• Befriending life is less a matter of knowledge than a question of wisdom. It is not about mastering life, controlling it or exerting our will over it, no matter how well intentioned our will may be. Befriending life is more about harmlessness than it is about control.

  Rachel Naomi Remen

  May, Matter, Life Is

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• I came to declare that I am a friend to Arabs, at a time when it is not easy to be friend to Arabs, because nowadays those who have ambitions and interests would not befriend Arab.

  George Galloway

  Ambition, Easy, Interest

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• It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Inspirational, Friendship, Wise

  Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Merton (1965). “Gandhi on Non-violence”, p.62, New Directions Publishing

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• Tony [Touch] is like my big brother. He's somebody that I grew up listening to. I've had the fortune of befriending a lot of my idols in a positive way. Tony is one of them.

  Justin Smith

  Brother, Idols, Listening

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• I think first of all, the United States has got to adopt a policy of befriending and creating allies around the world.

  Al Sharpton

  Thinking, Creating, Allies

  Source: www.npr.org

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• And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me. Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land.

  Joseph Smith, Jr.

  Freedom, Rights, Law

  Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith (Jr.) (1911). “The Doctrine and Covenants: Of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Containing the Revelations Given to Joseph Smith, Jun., the Prophet, for the Building Up of the Kingdom of God in the Last Days”

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• If Pocahontas had been given the foresight to see what devastating consequences her actions and belief in the possibility of peace would have brought upon her people, I wonder if she would have avoided befriending the English or not.

  Q'orianka Kilcher

  People, Belief, Action

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