HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS

ON THE FRIENDSHIP CAFÉ

10 Friendship Lessons for Making New Friends

Here are ten things to remember if you want to have quality friends in your life:

1. You can make more friends in two months by becoming more interested in people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.
2. Don't choose your best friends based on what they do for a living. As the Chinese Friendship Proverb says, "There are plenty of acquaintances in the world, but very few real friends."
3. Choose to be the sort of person who you yourself would really want to hang out with.
4. Regardless of how rich you are, true friends can't be bought with money. They can be bought, however, with integrity, politeness, generosity, and a host of other positive character traits.
5. Let your word and your actions be your bond.
6. Never forget that a lasting friendship is founded on commitment, not convenience.
7. Measure people not by the size of their cars, houses, and bank accounts. Measure them, instead, by the size of their hearts.
8. With friends, a bit of sincerity is far too little!
9. Criticize seldom.
10. Above all, just do your best. There are many fun things to do with friends. Everything else is up to the gods.  

Stay Positive and Active — You May Attract a New Friend or Two into Your Life

Betty Joray, a 71-year-old widow and cancer survivor, wanted more friendship in her life. So the retired hospital secretary did something about it. Indeed, she didn't sit around home, waiting to be discovered. "You can sit home and feel lonesome," stated Joray, "or you can get out and be with people."

Joray also emphasized that not only is it important that people get out of the house, but that they should also remain positive and maintain a sense of humor if they want to meet interesting people. "Lighten up and don’t take everything so seriously," she said. "I learned that over the years. You can do a lot of worrying, but it’s not going to do any good anyway."

One of the ways Joray enhanced her social life was by enrolling in weekly dance classes at a community center in Oregon, Ohio. She ended up dancing her way to a new friend. Her positive outlook and sense of humor attracted 78-year-old Ed Linchester into her life. They have been dancing, riding bikes, and enjoying many other things together ever since.

Linchester, a widower, also emphasized the importance of a positive disposition for retirees who desire more friendship or companionship and joy in their lives. "Don’t get down in the dumps. You might as well have a little fun because this is what life is. This is what we’ve got. Make the best of it." 

Friendship Quotes and Sayings:

Ability to Make New Friends

The art of friendship has been little cultivated in our society.
— Robert J. Havighurst

Friendship is an art, and very few persons are born with a natural gift for it.
— Kathleen Norris

You don't make friends, you earn them.
— Author Unknown

Great friends will appear in your life when you are doing the right things for them to appear.
— from Life's Secret Handbook for Having Great Friends

I look upon every day to be lost, in which I do not make a new acquaintance.
— Samuel Johnson (1709-84), English author, lexicographer.

The mere process of growing old together will make the slightest acquaintance seem a bosom friend.
— Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946), U.S. essayist, aphorist

A man must eat a peck of salt with his friend, before he knows him.
— Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), Spanish writer

If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair.
— Samuel Johnson (1709-84), English author, lexicographer

My mother used to say that there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet. She's now in a maximum security twilight home in Australia.
— Dame Edna Everage

Instead of loving your enemies, treat your friends a little better.
— Ed Howe

When one has tea and wine one will have many friends.
— Chinese proverb

When you are looking for a best friend, don't look for perfection; just look for friendship.
— Author Unknown

There is one thing to be said for country clubs; they drain off a lot of people you wouldn't want to associate with anyway.
— Joseph Prescott

For more information and opinions on how to make friends see:

1.  The Art of Making Online 'Friends'

2.   Six Ways to Make a Friend: The older we get, the harder it is to make new friends. How to bond with fresh faces....

3.   How to Make Friends Easily If You Are a Teen: Many people find it hard to make friends. It really isn't, so get out of your shell and remember that if you love yourself, others will too. Especially being a teen, making friends can be hard or easy depending upon several factors.

4. How to Make New Friends and Keep the Friends That Heaven Sent

COPYRIGHT © 2011 by Ernie J. Zelinski

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