“One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible.”

— Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams (1907), Ch. XX

About Henry Adams

1838 – 1918

American historian and writer, author of 'The Education of Henry Adams', which won the Pulitzer Prize after his death.

“Friends are born, not made.”

“Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts.”

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”

“The better part of one's life consists of his friendships.”

“Spiritual friendship is the whole of the spiritual life!”

“So long as you are secure you will count many friends; if your life becomes clouded you will be alone.”

“So long as the memory of certain beloved friends lives in my heart I shall say that life is good.”

“Life often seems like a long shipwreck, of which the débris are friendship, fame, and love.”

“It was not a fashionable place, but even among the pleasant people there, the girls made few friends, preferring to live for one another.”