Henry Van Dyke Quotes

I went through a period in my life when I had no friends, when the phone never rang, when I thought I would die from loneliness. I know that the real blessing here isn't that I have a book published, but that I have so many people to thank.

No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence.

For real company and friendship, there is nothing outside the animal kingdom that is comparable to a river.

In the end, for congenial sympathy, for poetry, for work, for original feeling and expression, for perfect companionship with one's friends--give me the country.

A river is the cosiest of friends. You must love it and live with it before you can know it.

Friendship is nothing else than entire fellow feeling as to all things human and divine with mutual good-will and affection; and I doubt whether anything better than this, wisdom alone excepted, has been given to man.

Every man passes his life in the search after friendship.

We are all good friends. Friendship is what endures. Shared ideals, respect for the whole character of a human being.

For he, indeed, who looks into the face of a friend beholds, as it were, a copy of himself.

When a friend calls to me from the road And slows his horse to a meaning walk, I don't stand still and look around On all the hills I haven't hoed, And shout from where I am, What is it? No, not as there is a time to talk. I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground, Blade-end up and five feet tall, And plod: I go up to the stone wall For a friendly visit.

While I am sane I shall compare nothing to the joy of a friend.

The true charm of pedestrians does not lie in the walking, or in the scenery, but in the talking.

To a heart formed for friendship and affection the charms of solitude are very short-lived.

Oh, how good it is to be with someone, sometimes.

Friendship is love without its flowers or veil.

There's nothing wrong with having a tree as a friend.

The wicked can have only accomplices, the voluptuous have companions in debauchery, self-seekers have associates, the politic assemble the factions, the typical idler has connections, princes have courtiers. Only the virtuous have friends.

We all suffer alone in the real world. True empathy's impossible. But if a piece of fiction can alow us imaginatively to identify with a character's pain, we might then also more easily conceive of others identifying with their own. This is nourishing, redemptive; we become less alone inside. It might just be that simple.

Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love.

So, what are you doing tonight?" Me?" Janie laughs. "Homework, of course." You want company?" Carrie's looking wistful. Do you have homework to do?" Of course. WEther I do it or not is the real question.

A visitor is a friend, he brings news, good or bad, which is bread to the hungry minds in lonely places. A real friend who comes to the house is a heavenly messenger, who brings the panis angelorum.

Ready for us to get it on, aint got a love to call steady.. Hope it aint like that for long, I'll be your friend if you let me

All friendship is desirable in itself, though it starts from the need of help

Some things I like to do better than other things, but I've got to say that in the end, the thing that makes it the most interesting for me is who you're with, you know? It's people that make the difference in just about any field, right?

I wish I had more friends, but people are such jerks. If you can just get most people to leave you alone, you're doing good. If you can find even one person you really like, you're lucky. And if that person can also stand you, you're really lucky.