Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow."

                                                                         ―William Shakespeare

Dear Hazim 

Good Day.

Thanks for your valuable response. You have a very highly esteemed sense of friendship.

Regards

Thanks, Dear Geoge. 

The second category cannot pass any test of friendship.

Regards

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"It is a good thing to be rich, and it is a good thing to be strong, but it is a better thing to be loved of many friends."

                                                                           ~Euripides

Dear sirs !

George is absolutely right.

My first impulse, as I read Mohammad's beautiful question, was to answer that the most important for my friends is my ideas...

My ideas can help. My looks only disturb simple and honest exchange of emotions that build true friendship.

Dears,

At the time being where the material world controls everything there is no sincere friendship but the mutual benefits sometimes make friendship; the best example is the stakeholders! If we supposed that there is a real friendship, it should depend on the person not his look.   

It is not desirable to have a friendship in proximity with the two pillars namely YOU & YOURS LOOK .

When we say ''YOU , it reflects our ''INES'' which is nothing but our EGO & a person having a EGO would not prefer to move under smooth sailing .

Your looks is reflecting of our face & as we all know face is our mirror . With our look if we wish to establish our personality than it is not meeting a line with the friendship .

In our look,if it touches our sympathy ,expression of feelings from our eyes ,& desire to extend our helping hand in time of need we can certainly said Friend in need is a Friend indeed.

This is my personal opinion

Actually, my books, with a "b"... :-)

 Dear Maria 

You are absolutely right. Barring the self-interest, as assumed by the economists, it is just the beauty of the ideas that makes us friends or foes.

Best regards

Dear Abu-Bakr

You seem to be greatly wise and practical. No doubt, the mutual considerations are important. But they may not be everything.

Regards

Dear Rohit

You are talking on a very high plane of something like the saints and the Sufis. 

A man minus ego ... is a personality who is a friend to everybody but never a foe to anybody. That is a personality whose mirror is stainless and clear.

Regards

Dear Liliana

I wish but how to see your look or the book, whatever you mean by it. I am very thankful to you for your nice gesture.

Regards

Dear Mohammad! Well, my "books". My personal library is huge, even though my house is rather small. I build everything with my own hands. I am not strong so it takes me a long time. Here some images of part of my library. I have books all over the house. Now you will understand why my friends love me for my books. My cooking is delicious. My friends love to come, we dine and we talk about books. :-)

My best, Lilliana

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are."

                                                                      -----   Unknown 

Dear Mohammad Israr Khan, 

If we do not to be, then our looks will not be too.

Regards, Shafagat

Its much deeper in the sense that the eye(part of looks) which is a reflection of the soul is what primarily drives one to be a friend of another. Secondly they are two individuals who share similar traits which leads to deep friendship. But to answer the question, one need not see a person at all yet be a your friend for life by true loyalty. 

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood."

                                              ----  Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Dear Colleguges

    Friends are to be open minded, free and frank. Friendship shouldn't be closed system, it has to be open from both the sides. Internally, he has to be clear nevertheless how is her/his look. Internal beauty i.e. soul is more important than the external beauty. Even though the personality contains your look but more it depends upon your internal beauty. If you are clear and frank, your look and face will be always in the fresh phase.  What I meant to say is your look is dependent on your thoughts, your liabilities towards friendship, happiness and satisfaction due to friends achievements.  

"The test of friendship is assistance in adversity, and that too, unconditional assistance. Co-operation which needs consideration is a commercial contract and not friendship. Conditional co-operation is like adulterated cement which does not bind."   Mahatma Gandhi

Read more at: http://www.azquotes.com/author/5308-Mahatma_Gandhi/tag/friendship

 http://www.greatdreams.com/lennon/mahatma_gandhi.htm

www.searchquotes.com/Mahatma_Gandhi/Friendship/quotes/

www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/gandhi

Dear George, I contradict a little bit from your answer. In my view casual friends go for our looks and friends indeed see us as ourselves. So-called friends care about neither. They go for benefits through us.

The wise brain is probably crucial. But behind a pretty face it is even easier :-))

On the other hand, low wise brain is sometimes more difficult to detect behind a pretty face.

Otherwise, I hope that my friends rather appreciate my "beautiful mind" :-)

really some people are very lucky having real friends......

I think the most crucial thing is the traits and attributes we have, who we are as an individual, how we think, how we feel, how we care.Looks are something superficial.

I think it depends on which situations or environments we are in. People's appreciation will be different according to their needs either short or long terms towards us. In academic world, for instance, friends focus more on us (performance), not our looks. However in other situations, it may the other way around.

In my opinion, we should also ask another question here: What you to your friend will be?

Hello all.

Very interesting question & answers too...

I think there's still a possibility to add opinions.

Of course, there are some people (whom we consider as friends), for they looks matters. That's their concern that they were brought up in that way. & I must say it's that look only matters when coming to research field. In some universities and departments, the research topic, the reputation of their supervising teacher, publication lists and even the type of research grant also matters.

I personally know a researcher here, who consider all these while we approach him for a help, even. That's a terrific situation how people lost social and humane values these days. & in my opinion, while we have a PhD course work where we learn about research ethics and methodologies, it will be nice if they include some moral hours also.

Best regards

Anila P Ajayan