I Take off the MASK!

A man of many companions may be ruined,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
-Proverbs 18:24, WEB-BE

A friend loves at all times;
and a brother is born for adversity.
-Proverbs 17:17, WEB-BE

A faithful friend is a strong defence: and he that hath found him, hath found a treasure.
Nothing can be compared to a faithful friend, and no weight of gold and silver is able to countervail the goodness of his fidelity.
A faithful friend is the medicine of life and immortality: and they that fear the Lord, shall find him.
He that feareth God, shall likewise have good friendship: because according to him shall his friend be.
-Sirach 6:14-17, DRB

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. – John 15:13, WEB-BE

Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
although the kisses of an enemy are profuse.
-Proverbs 27:5-6, WEB-BE

Iron sharpens iron;
so a man sharpens his friend’s countenance.
-Proverbs 27:17, WEB-BE

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. – John 15:15, WEB-BE

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn’t have another to lift him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one keep warm alone? If a man prevails against one who is alone, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
-Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, WEB-BE

Don’t befriend a hot-tempered man,
and don’t associate with one who harbours anger:
lest you learn his ways,
and ensnare your soul.
-Proverbs 22:24-25, WEB-BE

A righteous person is cautious in friendship,
but the way of the wicked leads them astray.
-Proverbs 12:26, WEB-BE

When he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father’s house. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. – 1 Samuel 18:1-3, WEB-BE

I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan.
You have been very pleasant to me.
Your love to me was wonderful,
passing the love of women.
-2 Samuel 1:26, WEB-BE

You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. – James 4:4, WEB-BE

Don’t be deceived! “Evil companionships corrupt good morals.” – 1 Corinthians 15:33, WEB-BE

A perverse man stirs up strife.
A whisperer separates close friends.
-Proverbs 16:28, WEB-BE

He who covers an offence promotes love;
but he who repeats a matter separates best friends.
-Proverbs 17:9, WEB-BE

Forsake not an old friend, for the new will not be like to him.
A new friend is as new wine: it shall grow old, and thou shalt drink it with pleasure.
-Sirach 9:14-15, DRB

You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God. – James 2:22-23, WEB-BE

Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart;
so does earnest counsel from a man’s friend.
-Proverbs 27:9, WEB-BE

For the perverse is an abomination to the LORD,
but his friendship is with the upright.
-Proverbs 3:32, WEB-BE

He who loves purity of heart and speaks gracefully
is the king’s friend.
-Proverbs 22:11, WEB-BE

Reprove a friend; it may be he did it not:
And if he did something, that he may do it no more.
-Sirach 19:13, WEB-BE

If thou hast opened a sad mouth, fear not, for there may be a reconciliation: except upbraiding, and reproach, and pride, and disclosing of secrets, or a treacherous wound: for in all these cases a friend will flee away. – Sirach 22:27, DRB

Keep fidelity with a friend in his poverty, that in his prosperity also thou mayst rejoice. In the time of his trouble continue faithful to him, that thou mayst also be heir with him in his inheritance. – Sirach 22:28-29, DRB

I will not be ashamed to salute a friend, neither will I hide myself from his face… – Sirach 22:31, DRB

Blessed is he that findeth a true friend… – Sirach 25:12, DRB

Ruth said, “Don’t urge me to leave you, and to return from following you, for where you go, I will go; and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May The LORD do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.” – Ruth 1:16-17, WEB-BE

And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man is wont to speak to his friend. And when he returned into the camp, his servant Josue the son of Nun, a young man, departed not from the tabernacle. – Exodus 33:11, DRB

Seek not revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy citizens. Thou shalt love thy friend as thyself. I am the Lord. – Exodus 19:18, DRB

He that discloseth the secret of a friend loseth his credit, and shall never find a friend to his mind. – Sirach 27:17, DRB

Every friend will say: I also am his friend: but there is a friend, that is only a friend in name. Is not this a grief even to death? – Sirach 37:1, DRB

There is a companion who rejoiceth with his friend in his joys, but in the time of trouble, he will be against him. – Sirach 37:4, DRB

Help a poor man for the commandment’s sake;
And according to his need send him not empty away.
Lose your money for a brother and a friend;
And let it not rust under the stone to be lost.
Bestow your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High;
And it shall profit you more than gold.
-Sirach 29:-9-11, WEB-BE

Forget not thy friend in thy mind, and be not unmindful of him in thy riches. – Sirach 37:6, DRB

They must remember how our father Abraham was tempted, and being proved by many tribulations, was made the friend of God. – Judith 8:22, DRB

He that taketh away mercy from his friend, forsaketh the fear of the Lord. – Job 6:14, DRB

Say not to thy friend: Go, and come again: and to morrow I will give to thee: when thou canst give at present. Practise not evil against thy friend, when he hath confidence in thee. – Proverbs 3:28-29, WEB-BE

Say to wisdom: Thou art my sister: and call prudence thy friend, That she may keep thee from the woman that is not thine, and from the stranger who sweeteneth her words. – Proverbs 7:4-5, DRB

He that despiseth his friend, is mean of heart: but the wise man will hold his peace. – Proverbs 11:12, DRB

The things which thy eyes have seen, utter not hastily in a quarrel: lest afterward thou mayst not be able to make amends, when thou hast dishonoured thy friend. – Proverbs 25:8, DRB

As he is guilty that shooteth arrows, and lances unto death: So is the man that hurteth his friend deceitfully: and when he is taken, saith: I did it in jest. – Proverbs 26:18-19, DRB

His throat most sweet, and he is all lovely: such is my beloved, and he is my friend, O ye daughters of Jerusalem. – Song of Solomon 5:16, DRB

If thou wouldst get a friend, try him before thou takest him, and do not credit him easily.
For there is a friend for his own occasion, and he will not abide in the day of thy trouble.
And there is a friend that turneth to enmity; and there is a friend that will disclose hatred and strife and reproaches.
And there is a friend a companion at the table, and he will not abide in the day of distress.
A friend if he continue steadfast, shall be to thee as thyself, and shall act with confidence among them of thy household.
If he humble himself before thee, and hide himself from thy face, thou shalt have unanimous friendship for good.
-Sirach 6:7-12, DRB

Do not transgress against thy friend deferring money, nor despise thy dear brother for the sake of gold. – Sirach 7:20, DRB

He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.- John 3:29-30, WEB-BE

These things he said; and after that he said to them: Lazarus our friend sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep… When Mary therefore was come where Jesus was, seeing him, she fell down at his feet, and saith to him: Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Jesus, therefore, when he saw her weeping, and the Jews that were come with her, weeping, groaned in the spirit, and troubled himself, And said: Where have you laid him? They say to him: Lord, come and see. And Jesus wept. The Jews therefore said: Behold how he loved him. – John 11:11,32-36, DRB

Treat your friends as you do your pictures, and place them in their best light. – Jennie Jerome Churchill

Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort, of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away. – George Eliot

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares. – Henri J.M. Nouwen

Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light. – Helen Keller

One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood. – Lucius Annaeus Seneca

…when people have light in themselves, it will shine out from them. Then we get to know each other as we walk together in the darkness, without needing to pass our hands over each other’s faces, or to intrude into each other’s hearts. – Albert Schweitzer

The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this? – Henry David Thoreau

Friendship is born at that moment when one man says to another: “What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . . – C.S. Lewis

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born. – Anaïs Nin

Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it’s all over. – Octavia Butler

A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out. – Alban Goodier

And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed. – Kahlil Gibran

It is a good thing to be rich, and a good thing to be strong, but it is better to be beloved of many friends. – Euripides

A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same. – Elbert Hubbard

The making of friends, who are real friends, is the best token we have of a person’s success in life. – Edward Everett Hale

Go often to the house of thy friend; for weeds soon choke up the unused path. – Scandinavian Mythology

A friend is a present you give yourself. – Robert Louis Stevenson

I do not wish to treat friends daintily, but with roughest courage. When they are real, they are not glass threads or frost-work, but the solidest thing we know. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. – Aristotle

I know now that the world is not filled with strangers. It is full of other people – waiting only to be spoken to. – Beth Day

Friends should be treasured. And to have good friends, you must be a good friend. That’s what mother told me. As always, she was right. – Angela Douglas

Life is to be fortified by many friendships. To love, and to be loved, is the greatest happiness. – Sydney Smith

Friends… they cherish one another’s hopes. They are kind to one another’s dreams. – Henry David Thoreau

We call that person who has lost his father, an orphan; and a widower that man who has lost his wife. But that man who has known the immense unhappiness of losing a friend, by what name do we call him? Here every language is silent and holds its peace in impotence. – Joseph Roux

There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature. – Jane Austen

Friends are people who go on conspiratorial shopping sprees together, diving in and out of shops totally beyond their price range, and ending up eating oozing cream cakes with only just enough money to get home. – Pam Brown

Words are easy, like the wind; Faithful friends are hard to find. – William Shakespeare

It’s the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter. – Marlene Dietrich

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship. – Ralph Waldo Emerson