Popular Proverbs About Friendship
The Proverbs are a wealth of wisdom about many things we deal with in everyday life, like conflicts with family, trusting God, and keeping good friends in your life. The sayings are short and ideal for simplifying life's most important concepts, like getting along and showing kindness and love to others. Memorizing one or two of these proverbs can help you put things in perspective when your friendship is going through a tough time or when you're looking for something to focus on as an act of gratitude.
According to About's Christianity Expert, the Proverbs were written by and during the reign of King Solomon (971-931 B.C.). Solomon was the son of King David, who is credited in writing many of the Psalms. Others who may have written the Proverbs are Agur the Wise and King Lemuel.
Friends As Close to You as Family
If you ever feel frustrated that you and your friends just can't seem to get along, you can take heart in the fact that people for thousands of years have experienced frequent conflicts with their friends. It isn't a new concept and you're not the first one to have dealt with it.
Proverbs addresses conflict with advice that is still relevant to what friends today experience: betrayal, trust issues, and developing closeness.
Some friendships do not last, but some friends are more loyal than brothers.
~ Proverbs 18:24
Friends can come and go from your lives, but some of them are more loyal and caring than people in your own family.
Learning From Each Friend
Every friend, no matter how long they are in your life, is someone who can teach you to be a better person.
A great approach to life is surrounding yourself with people you can emulate, those who are experienced (mentors, perhaps) who you'd be wise to learn from.
Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
~ Proverbs 13:20
This post speaks directly to the thought that good friends will bring you up. If you've ever spent a day with a friend and then felt totally exhausted and misunderstood at the end, you know what this quote means.
Conversely, a friend who challenges you in a good way and encourages you leaves you feeling strong and happy. Surround yourself with positive people so you can recognize a negative friendship when it comes your way.
Frenemies and Troublemakers
A friend means well, even when he hurts you. But when an enemy puts his hand round your shoulder - watch out!
~ Proverbs 27:6
Our friends are human and therefore, they mess up. They will act rudely, hurt our feelings, and behave like buffoons sometimes. That doesn't mean they don't love us or want the best for us.
But in the quest for good friends, it's hard to distinguish between the bad behavior of a good friend and the negative influence of a toxic friendship at times. Often, you need to spend time together and really get to know someone before you can judge. This might mean that you have a toxic friend in your life for a while until you know for sure.
Look at it this way, it is better to have a lousy friend once in a while than lose a good one. Take your time in deciding which is which and learn to forgive. It will make bouncing back from conflict that much easier.
A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends.
~ Proverbs 16:28
One reason gossip is so harmful in a friendship is because it ruins trust. Will you ever feel comfortable telling a friend something again if you find out they blabbed to someone else? Probably not.
True Friendship
An honest answer is the sign of true friendship.
~ Proverbs 24:26
You don't want people around you who are fake, but you also don't want a friend who tries to hurt your feelings either. Honesty needs to be gentle in order to be most effective.
Friends always show their love. What are brothers for if not to share troubles?
~ Proverbs 17:17
This is the essence of friendship.
As you can tell by this collection, friendship is something we've been trying to get right for centuries. Meditate on the wisdom in these verses from Proverbs and see how they can make a difference in your friendships.