Oscar Wilde

"Anybody can sympathise with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathise with a friend's success"

Oscar Wilde

WHO: Oscar Wilde was an Irish dramatist, poet, and author born in 1854 (Dublin). He died at the age of 46 (Paris).

WHERE: This quote comes from The Soul of Man under Socialism. 

WHEN: Oscar Wilde wrote this in 1891. One year after that The Picture of Dorian Gray was published.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of Nature"

Ralph Waldo Emerson

WHO: Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, poet, and philosopher born in 1803. He died at the age of 79.

WHERE: This quote comes from the book Essays (Friendship). 

WHEN: Emerson wrote this in 1841. In January of the next year Emerson's first son Waldo died from scarlet fever. Emerson wrote of his grief in the poem Threnody (For this losing is true dying), and the essay Experience.

Author Unknown #2

"A true friend is someone that comes when everyone is leaving, and stays when everyone else is gone."

Author Unknown