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The history books and media are full of quotes about terrorism, war, crime, religious hatred, murder and all the other terrible things humans do to other humans. Fortunately, once in awhile a jewel shines out from all the muck, and it only needs one word to bring light to the usual darkness of our existence: friendship.

I've gone way back in history than most people during my years on this earth, so I choose quotations from people who not only spoke good quotes on friendship, but did other things with their lives to earn my friendship. Here are my favorites, probably in the order in which I admire the quote and the originator:

1. For Abraham Lincoln, a man who had to endure a life full of many enemies, including those who made war against him and the one who took his life, his quote was timely when he spoke it, and should be just as relevant to world leaders today: "Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?"

2. Golda Meir, born in America, but destined to become the leader of a new nation, created one of the greatest statements ever spoken for the cause of peace, when she said about Arab attacks against Israel, "We will have peace only when they value the lives of their own children over the need to kill our children." My favorite quote of hers about friendship is in the same theme, and also should be considered by world leaders today, "You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist."

3. Robert Louis Stevenson, world traveler and author of "Treasure Island" and other classics of my school years, said the truth with, "No man is useless while he has a friend."

4. TV inspiration guru Leo Luscaglia, had a flowery phrase about friendship, "A single rose can be my garden; a single friend, my world."

5. Marlene Deitrich, a sexy movie star of the 30s and 40s, was known also for her human side and loyalty to friends. She said, "It is the friends you can call up at four in the morning who really matter."

6. Philosopher and pond ponderer, Henry David Thoreau, took time out from appreciating nature to say, "The language of friendship is not words, but meanings." Wonder what he meant by that?

7. George Washington, general, patriot, first President and soldier, was also a farmer in Mount Vernon. He referred to his agricultural side when he said, "True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity, before it is entitled to the appellation." Will Shakespeare simplified it with, "A rose by any other name still smells as sweet."

8. Henry Ford, the hard-nosed business tycoon and and Model T maker who invented the assembly line, said, "My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me." OK, so tell me, friend, why are all your 2008 models are being recalled?

9. Tom Jefferson, our third President, was a brilliant man, but he also valued people around him, and like Washington, thought about things in agricultural ways. He said, "Friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life; and thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the greater part of life is sunshine."

10. William Penn, who brought his Quaker philosphy from England to escape persecution in America, and was one of the first to speak out about forming an independent country, said, "There can be no friendship where there is no freedom." So, take that and stuff it in your crown jewels, King George III!

Learn more about this author, Ted Sherman.
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