Li Bai 李白
c. 755 · Tang China · On seeing Wang Lun, a villager who had been his host, come out to see him off
Li Bai was aboard and about to set off when suddenly, from the bank, came stamping feet and song. The water of Peach Blossom Pool is a thousand feet deep, and not so deep as Wang Lun's love in seeing me off.
李白乘舟將欲行，忽聞岸上踏歌聲。
桃花潭水深千尺，不及汪倫送我情。"For Wang Lun"
In the same thread
Aristotle Ἀριστοτέλης
c. 330 BC · ancient Greece
For without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.
ἄνευ γὰρ φίλων οὐδεὶς ἕλοιτʼ ἂν ζῆν, ἔχων τὰ λοιπὰ ἀγαθὰ πάνταNicomachean Ethics, book 8, chapter 1
Michel de Montaigne
1580s · near Bordeaux, France · Of his friend La Boétie, who had died before him
If a man should importune me to give a reason why I loved him, I find it could no otherwise be expressed, than by making answer: because it was he, because it was I.Essays, book 1, "Of Friendship" · in place of the original: the English translation by Charles Cotton (1686, revised by Hazlitt in 1877)
Thiruvalluvar திருவள்ளுவர்
about 2,000 years ago · Tamil country, South India
Like the hand that flies to catch a slipping garment, friendship is what removes a friend's trouble on the spot.
உடுக்கை இழந்தவன் கைபோல ஆங்கே இடுக்கண் களைவதாம் நட்பு.
Tirukkural 788
Hafez حافظ
14th century · Shiraz, Persia
Plant the tree of friendship, for it bears the fruit your heart desires. Pull up the sapling of enmity, for it bears trouble past counting.
درخت دوستی بنشان که کام دل به بار آرد
نهال دشمنی برکن که رنج بی شمار آردDivan of Hafez, a ghazal
Gao Shi 高適
747 · Tang China
Ten miles of yellow cloud, the white sun dim. The north wind drives the wild geese, and the snow comes thick. Do not worry that there will be no one who knows you on the road ahead. Who under heaven does not know you?
十里黃雲白日曛，北風吹雁雪紛紛。
莫愁前路無知己，天下誰人不識君。"Farewell to Dong Da," the first poem, in the Complete Tang Poems
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