80 Friendship Quotes That Prove Distance Only Brings You Closer

I cried when I left for my freshman year of college. I didn’t cry because I was going to miss my parents, I cried because I was already missing my best friend.

See, I’ve known my best friend since the seventh grade. We went to the same middle school and high school, and there was never a weekend or summer where we didn’t spend almost every moment together. But the day had finally come where we would be separated for a long period of time.

It was a sad day knowing we might never be down the street from each other again. 

By now you’ve probably learned the first and hardest lesson of moving away from your friends: distance is the true test of friendship. Just because someone calls you their BFF doesn’t mean they take the "forever" part seriously.

Having a long-distance friendship takes work. And lots of it.

Sometimes, people will take you by surprise. Friends who you thought would be a part of your life forever are now MIA. It's incredibly heartbreaking when distance can separate you from your friends, but it only helps you to form a stronger bond with the friends who actually want to continue being friends.

And for the people that do stick around for long-distance relationships, you've probably realized by now that there are great upsides to having friends who live far away. Like, you always have something to look forward to. You may not know when you’ll see them next, but you’re already planning your next adventure together.

Here are 80 long-distance friendship quotes that sum up what it’s like to have a BFF who lives far away.

1. "I may not always be there with you, but I will always be there for you."

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2. “Can miles truly separate you from friends? If you want to be with someone you love, aren’t you already there?” — Richard Bach

3. "There are friendships imprinted in our hearts that will never be diminished by time and distance." — Dodinsky

4. “True friends stay with you no matter the distance or time that separates you from them.” — Lance Reynald

5. "Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes." — Henry David Thoreau 

6. “’Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and to have her nonsense respected.” — Charles Lamb

7. "Friendship is very long phone calls about nothing."

8. “Sweet is the memory of distant friends! Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart.” — Washington Irving

9. "A thousand miles seems pretty far, but they've got planes and trains and cars. I'd walk to you if I had no other way." — Plain White T's, "Hey There Delilah"

10. “Friendship is love without his wings!” — Lord Byron

11. "Sending a little box of sunshine your way to remind you I love you, though you're far away."

12. "No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth." — Robert Southey

13. "Mizpah: the deep emotional bond between people, especially those separated by distance or death."

14. “Definition of a long-distance relationship: Inconveniently the most effective way to find out if you really love each other.”

15. “You make me smile despite the miles.” 

16. “A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world.” — Leo Buscaglia

17. "I'm never sad when a friend goes far away, because whichever city or country that friend goes to, they turn the place friendly.They turn a suspicious-looking name on the map into a place where a welcome can be found." — Helen Oyeyemi

18. “Whoever coined the term ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ was an idiot. Absence makes a b**** grow crazy.” — Toni Aleo

19. “Distance doesn’t matter when friendship is true.”    

RELATED: How To Make A Long Distance Friendship Work — From Someone Who Knows

20. “If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together... there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart... I’ll always be with you.” — A. A. Milne, "Winnie the Pooh"

21. "I wish I could teleport to you."

22. “If you think missing me is hard, you should try missing you.”

23. "I miss you. A little too much, a little too often, and a little more everyday."

24. “Cherish those people who have the ability to touch you and still be thousands of miles from your presence.“ — Rachel Wolchin

25. "Even if I spend the whole day with you, I miss you the second you leave."

26. “They say long-distance relationships will teach you to communicate well... We should be mind-readers by now.” — Lisa McKay

27. "Every time my phone buzzes, I hope it's you missing me."

28. “Growing apart doesn’t change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. I’m glad for that.” — Ally Condie

29. "You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That's the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place."

30. “We live so far apart because the world just isn’t ready for that much greatness.”

31. "I'm connected with you, no matter where you are."

32. “True friends are never apart, maybe in distance but never in heart.”

33. "A strong friendship doesn't need daily conversation, doesn't always need togetherness, as long as the relationship lives in the heart, true friends will never part."

34. “We’ve been friends for so long, I can’t remember which one of us is the bad influence.”

35. "And then she knew that you could become homesick for people, too."

36. “Distance can’t stop two best friends' relationship.”

37. “When you miss me just look up to the night sky and remember, I’m like a star; sometimes you can’t see me, but I’m always there." — Jayde Nicole

38. “Want to learn how someone really handles frustration? Put them in a long-distance relationship and give them a slow internet connection.” — Lisa McKay

39. Well here's one thing you can trust / It takes you and me to make us / One of those days you had enough, I'll be there." — Ariana Grande, "Get Well Soon"

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40. “The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.” — Elisabeth Foley

41. "Where you are is where I want to be."

42. “The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected.” — Nicholas Sparks, "The Notebook"

43. "Distance means nothing when someone means everything."

44. “Remember, the greatest gift is not found in a store nor under a tree but in the hearts of true friends.” — Cindy Lew

45. "I wish we lived closer."

46. “Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of heaven.” — Tryon Edwards

47. "Good friends are like stars. You don't always see them, but you know they're always there."

48. “There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.” — Diana Cortes

49. “The distance cannot matter. Ours is a friendship of the heart.”

50. “I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can play together all night.” — Bill Watterson

51. "I love you so much more than the miles between us."

52. “There’s no distance that can make me forget you.”

53. "If one day you feel like crying, call me. I can't promise to make you laugh, but I'm willing to cry with you."

54. “If I had a single flower for every time I think of you, I could walk forever in my garden.” — Claudia Grandi

55. "The people who are meant to be in your life will always gravitate back towards you, no matter how far they wander."

56. “I don’t cry because we’ve been separated by distance, and for a matter of years. Why? Because for as long as we share the same sky and breathe the same air, we’re still together.” — Donna Lynn Hope

57. "Distance shouldn't matter because, at the end of the day, we're under the same sky."

58. “What is the opposite of two? A lonely me, a lonely you.” — Richard Wilbur

59. "Keep the ones that heard you when you never said a word."

RELATED: 118 Quotes About Missing Someone To Say ‘I Miss You’

60. “True friendship is when two friends can walk in opposite directions, yet remain side by side.”

61. "That friend who you may not see very often, but the moment you reconnect feels like yesterday."

62. “As contraries are known by contraries, so is the delight of presence best known by the torments of absence.” — Alcibiades

63. "If I could, I would come to visit you right now."

64. “I’m jealous of the people who get to see you every day.”

65. "I miss my unbiological sister."

66. “A part of you has grown in me, together forever we shall be, never apart, maybe in distance, but not in heart.” — Hakan Massoud Nawabi

67. “A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain.” — Kahlil Gibran

68. “We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.” — William James

69. “Though we drifted apart in distance, I still think of you as being right here. And although we have many new friends, it is our friendship that means the most to me.”

70. “Though miles may lie between us, we’re never far apart, for friendship doesn’t count the miles, it’s measured in the heart.” — Rozina Hasham

71. “If you’re out on the road, feeling lonely and so cold, all you have to do is call my name, and I’ll be there on the next train.” — Carole King

72. “There is no distance too far between friends, for friendship gives wings to the heart.”

73. “We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere.”

74. “Here is my favorite thing about long-distance besties; it can be years since you have seen each other and, the minute you start talking, it is like you were never apart.” — Becca Anderson

75. “When twilight drops her curtain down and pins it with a star, remember that you have a friend though she may wander far.” — L.M. Montgomery

76. “Friends are connected heart to heart. Distance and time can’t break them apart.”

77. “If the days won’t allow us to see each other, memories will, and if my eyes can’t see you, my heart will never forget you.”

78. “If there is one thing you never need to doubt, it is our friendship. I am always just a phone call away.”

79. “Your absence has not taught me how to be alone, it merely has shown that when together we cast a single shadow on the wall.” — Doug Fetherling

80. “If distance were measured in terms of the heart, we’d never be more than a minute apart.”

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Tess Griman is a writer whose work focuses on relationships, astrology, and pop culture.