St. Thomas Aquinas defined friendship as wanting the same things and rejecting the same things. You are only friends with people who are going to the same place, who have the same values ​​as you; the others, even though they are your relatives, even if it is your wife, your father, your mother or your child, are not your friends, but just acquaintances. With these people, your attitude is one of charity. What charity can you have with them? Teach them. If you are still afraid of them, and are not prepared to teach them, run away. Stay in solitude, get ready, and when you’re strong, go back there, actively, with patience, but firmly. Never accept coexistence in these terms; never accept mediocrizing coexistence, which will demean you, because this is what the Bible calls the ‘company of mockers’, and you cannot have anything to do with these people. See that moving away from people does not mean that you hate them and have no love for them.

One thing that is still quite obvious is that friendship is also one of the pillars on which our personality is built. If you do not find the right friends, who share the same values as you, you will end up associating with other groups, who will offer you support and friendship in exchange for your corruption, in exchange for giving up on who you are, in exchange that you abandon your own values and make useless and abject sacrifices on the altar of false friendship.

One of the basic secrets of life is that you are able to approach people who have the same goals and values as you

A friendship that is born is like a diamond that springs from the ground. One that ends is just something we don’t think about anymore.

The most perfect form of friendship is only possible for those who seek the Truth. Worldly people, however good they may be, will never know the spiritual dimension of a true friend. Small talk and so many other stupidities are the only goal of their social life.

“Any true friend wants for his friend: 1) to exist and live; 2) all goods; 3) do him good; 4) enjoy his coexistence; and 5) finally to share his joys and sorrows with him, living with him one heart.” St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 25, a. 7.

L. Szondi taught that the choice of friends is one of the determining factors of destiny. You should not prostitute yourself out of mere human respect. Seek the friendship of the best and, without fighting, avoid the worst.

Having real friends at a distance is better than having gold-diggers and swindlers around

Idem velle, idem nolle: To be a friend is to love the same things and reject the same things. Don’t be friends with those who hate what you love.