Friends - quantity or quality?

Hi.

Wanted to start this thread/ask a question cos I was earlier today completely bowled over by a friends generous heart.

So, question is... do you believe, as I do, that the quantity of our friends is not as important as the 'quality' of our friends?

 

Certainly not, makes no sense what so ever

 

The answer is obvious. I have countless "acquaintances" but few "close friends."

 

Quality would be my choice.

Quantity can lead to fair weather friends.

 

If the quality isn't any good then they are not what I would consider a true friend. They are just someone that I know.

 

quality

 

Quality for sure on many levels

 

I vote for quality



Odd thing is I don't have any friends.

 

Quality 100% i don't understand these people on facebook with 800+ freinds...i wonder, out of all these friends how many of these so called "friends" would they actually stop and say hello to on the passing ???

 

quality is good, but quantity is also good, seeing as people change.

i have had a few very close friends and they have changed a whole lot over the past couple years - if i didn't have other groups of friends (i have only a few due to moving cities and whatnot) i probably would feel super lonely.


so quantity should not be left out.

 

Quality.. making roots.. building solid intimate relationships imo is better than being a human tumble weed.

 

So you are basically saying a friend of 'quality' is someone you get stuff from.

The trouble with this kind of thing is its impossible to be objective with ones self. Talk about a friend that a great person of generous spirit, but the reality is that most of the time they are giving, you are taking. That friend thinks of you as a leech but too polite to say so. And on top of that everyone else sees the reality of that interaction, again too polite to tell you. Then all of a sudden you find everyone drifting off without telling you why.

I'd be very wary of anyone talking about the value or quality of fellow human beings.

I'm Australian, in Sydney, I notice this kind of thing mostly with race and the White Suburban crowd. Living in a very multicultural city where there is no excuse, everyone usually working with at least 1/2 dozen races. A lot of them are more racist than they even realise.

You know one guy, he'll run around saying stuff that makes him sound good, crap on about values and fairness, but get to know him and you find he only has white friends, try rub it in when he gets a new car, new job or his kid does something moderately unique. Spurts out something embarrassing to everyone if there is someone non white in his presence.

But then by comparison you know another one that has no problems having the Indian neighbours over for a BBQ, no probs with a few beers at the bar after work with the Korean guy he works with.

In the end thats the red flag for me, if they have to go around constantly reaffirming anything to anyone, why talk it up?, just do it.

Dont talk up the 'quality' of other people if you are just going to turn around and get snotty if they dont agree with you, arent going to do stuff for you or give you stuff you want

 

Quality . Quantity is for egoist

 

obviously quality. i don't have time or desire to have more than a handful of friends. hell, even if i had 20 great friends, i would have to drop some of them so i could get some damn alone time.

 

Thanks all.

I have 12 or 13 friends on FB - they are people I know and care about - totally agree with regard to 100's of so called friends on FB - I like to keep it real.

 

I think facebook friends are a total different thing. Your contact persons on facebook just happen to be called friends. If you'd change that with the word aliens, fellow facebookers or aquaintances nothing would change... except perhaps the drama from the people who did not grasp the fact in the first place that the word friend on facebook is just a term for facebook contact persons.

 

Always quality over quantity when it comes to friends. And I agree with Asmodean in regards to the facebook friends. I have 100+ "friends" on there, but they are the people I like to stay in touch with, or maybe do some catching up with. I don't live in my "home town" at the moment, so facebook is good to find and catch up with people I haven't seen or talked to in years. When you add those people, the list gets big. Mine can definitely be bigger because I still haven't added most of the people I went to high school with. I just don't add random people on my personal facebook because this account is for the people I actually know.

 

To me the form or context I communicate in is of some importance as well. For instance, I dislike the friends system on facebook even though I stated I saw through the term friends and that it doesn't matter what it is callled, the fact how other people regard and treat it puts me off. I also have always disliked the 'like' button and how it is overly used. It really takes things (only small but still) out of proportion or context sometimes. These are small matters but they irritate me enough to not want to communicate via that medium at all.

 

Both. I have friends to go party with, talk books over, geek friends, work friends, and more. I also believe that people come in and out of your life at the right times... just as you come and go through theirs.
Then there are the few who know too many of my secrets but would never tell because I know theirs.

 

Definetly quantity. The more friends you have the cooler you are to other people.