Lucy and Ethel. Grace and Frankie. Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha. These are a few of pop culture’s most iconic female friendships — and where would any of us be without our friends?
We can thank another one of television’s fabulous women for introducing us to Galentine’s Day in 2010 — a holiday that takes the focus off romance and centers the importance of friendships, especially between women. On the sitcom Parks and Recreation, Amy Poehler’s character Leslie Knope hosts a Galentine’s Day brunch for her girlfriends every year on February 13, the day before Valentine’s Day. What started as a fictional holiday about “ladies celebrating ladies” has become an excellent reason to honor our real-life besties.
As Galentine’s Day approaches, here are quotes about friendship to recognize the friends who raise us up, keep us going, make us laugh, and always have our backs.
There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves; it is not my nature.Jane Austen
One friend with whom you have a lot in common is better than three friends with whom you struggle to find things to talk about.Mindy Kaling
I think we all have people — along the lines of, "Oh, you're going to be my best friend for life," but it doesn't always work that way. People come in and out of our lives, and the true test of friendship is whether you can pick back up right where you left off the last time you saw each other.Lisa See, author
I don't know what I would have done so many times in my life if I hadn't had my girlfriends. They have literally gotten me up out of bed, taken my clothes off, put me in the shower, dressed me, said, “Hey, you can do this,” put my high heels on, and pushed me out the door!Reese Witherspoon
If you have two friends in your lifetime, you’re lucky. If you have one good friend, you’re more than lucky.S.E. Hinton
When something is wrong and you need to talk to your friends and they ask you how you are, don't say "Fine"… Tell your lady friends the truth so you can talk it out and either sulk companionably or move on to other topics.Roxane Gay, author
Friendship between women is different than friendship between men. We talk about different things. We delve deep. We go under, even if we haven’t seen each other for years.Jane Fonda
The friend who holds your hand and says the wrong thing is made of dearer stuff than the one who stays away.Barbara Kingsolver
For many women, friends are our primary partners through life; they are the ones who move us into new homes, out of bad relationships, through births and illnesses. Even for women who do marry, this is true at the beginning of our adult lives, and at the end — after divorce or the death of a spouse.Rebecca Traister, writer
Friendships between women, as any woman will tell you, are built of a thousand small kindnesses… swapped back and forth and over again.Michelle Obama
I always feel that the great high privilege, relief, and comfort of friendship was that one had to explain nothing.Katherine Mansfield, author
Friendship is the most important thing ― not career or housework, or one’s fatigue — and it needs to be tended and nurtured.Julie Child
The job of a friend is not to decide what should be done, not to run interference or pick up the slack. The job of a friend is to understand, and to supply energy and hope, and in doing so to keep those they value on their feet a little longer, so that they can fight another round and grow strong in themselves.Merle Shain, author
Photo credit: Robin L Marshall/ FilmMagic via Getty Images
