To this day my mom's unsinkable spirit is an inspiration to me. For nearly thirty years she's worked at the Library of Congress. Everyone knows Sameha simply as 'Sami.' Along with 500 miles of shelved books her closest friendships are cataloged in that library. They are as much the value of work to my mom as is the work itself.

What makes a woman beautiful is her loyalty to and her friendships with other women and her honesty with men.

So I really did stop and change what I saw I was about and really try to put that principle into play as the center of everything - my friendships my marriage my career my family my way of being in the world. And that changed everything for me.

A man's friendships are like his will invalidated by marriage - but they are also no less invalidated by the marriage of his friends.

Life is to be fortified by many friendships. To love and to be loved is the greatest happiness of existence.

I loved my 17 years with R.E.M. but I'm ready to reflect assess and move on to a different phase of my life. The four of us will continue our close friendship and I look forward to hearing their future efforts as the world's biggest R.E.M. fan.

In the name of the United States and President Bush I want to thank the Mexican people President Fox and his government for their friendship.

Never be afraid to meet to the hilt the demand of either work or friendship - two of life's major assets.

A passion for politics stems usually from an insatiable need either for power or for friendship and adulation or a combination of both.

The friendship of Shostakovich cast a brilliant light over my whole life and whose spiritual qualities captured my soul once and for all time.