"I have friends who don't know how much my friends are. They don't realize the love I devote to them and the absolute need I have for them. Friendship is a nobler feeling than love, behold, it allows the object of it to be divided into others. affections, while love has intrinsic schism that does not admit rivalry. And I could bear, though not without pain, that all my loves had died, but I would go mad if all my friends died! Even those who don't realize how much they are my friends and how much my life depends on their existence... I don't look for some of them, it's enough for me to know that they exist. This mere condition encourages me to move on through life. But because I don't look for them assiduously, I can't tell you how much I like them. They wouldn't believe it! Many of them are reading this chronicle and don't know that they are included in the sacred relationship of my friends. But it's delicious that I know and feel that I adore them, although I don't declare and don't look for them. Sometimes, when I look for them, I notice that they have no idea how necessary they are to me, how indispensable they are to my vital balance, because they are part of the world that I, shakily, built and became the foundations of my enchantment for life. If one of them dies, I'll be crooked to one side. If they all die, I collapse! That's why, without them knowing, I pray for their lives And I'm ashamed, because my prayer is, in short, directed to my well-being. She is perhaps fruit of my selfishness. Sometimes, I dive into thoughts about some of them. When I travel and I am in front of wonderful places, some tears fall for not being with me, sharing that pleasure... , living with me, walking with me, talking to me, living with me, all my friends, and especially those who don't suspect or maybe will never know that they are my friends! We don't make friends, we recognize them." (To My Friends, Vinícius de Moraes)