Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.

Closeness is worth taking time over, since early impressions are about charm and tell you little about how someone behaves when it costs them. Once someone is in, patience runs the other way: a long friendship holds shared history that cannot be rebuilt with anyone new, and it is easy to discard over something that would look small in two years. People go through bad stretches and come out of them.

Before dropping someone over a recent disappointment, weigh it against what they have been to you over the whole span. Then have the conversation rather than the quiet withdrawal.