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85 Quotes about Fake Friends & 10 Tips on How to Spot Them

Fake friends pretend to be our friends and manipulate us. Unfortunately, this happens far too often. If you have come across one of these people, our quotes about fake friends will help you deal with your grief and anger.

Have you slowly realized what a toxic friendship you have found yourself in, and that you were being tricked by your so-called friend all along?

Fake friendships can take a lot out of us and unleash emotional chaos – you might feel sad, angry and disappointed.

Unless otherwise noted, all of the quotes in this article are by unknown authors.

Short Quotes about Fake Friends

Short Quotes about Fake Friends

In our first list you will find particularly short quotes about dishonest and fake friends. All of the quotes in this category have less than 15 words.

  1. Better ten real enemies than one fake friend.
    (German proverb)
  2. Fake friends are always looking at your wallet.
  3. Loud friends are often quiet enemies.
    (Confucius, Chinese philosopher, 551 B.C.-479 B.C.)
  4. Fake friends – also known as actors.
  5. A friend who leaves you was never a friend.
  6. Fake friends always have fake motives.
  7. If you have a fake friend, you don’t need enemies.
  8. You have to let go of fake friends
  9. With age, you can spot fake friends better.
  10. A fake friend wears the mask of a good one.
  11. Better three decent opponents than one fake friend.
  12. Fake friends promise lots and deliver little.
  13. Parents can spot your fake friends before you can.
  14. Fake friends are like an error in the human system.
  15. The fake friend is the real enemy.
  16. Fake friends are simply unhealthy.
  17. All my misfortune comes from false friends.
    (Friedrich Schiller, German dramatist, 1759-1805)
  18. Fake friends believe rumors. Real friends believe in you.
  19. Fake friends need to be sorted out.
  20. A friend to all is a friend to no-one.
    (Aristotle, Greek philosopher, 384-322 B.C.)
  21. Fake friends are there to help you recognize the real ones.
  22. Don’t waste your time with fake friends.
  23. Fake friends are life lessons.
  24. A friend in power is a friend lost.
    (Henry Brooks Adams, American historian, 1838-1918)
  25. Fake friends don’t want you to do better than them.
    (Unknown)

Mean Diss Quotes Against a Fake Friend

Mean Diss Quotes Against a Fake Friend

Some people are so fake, that the only thing that helps against their dishonest personality is a mean diss quote. In this list you will find a few mean quotes that you can throw at your nasty, fake and devious friends when they have betrayed you.

But be careful with these mean diss quotes, as you don’t want to lower yourself to your former friend’s level.

  1. Fake friends are like milk that has gone bad. Stinky, rotten, and good for nothing.
  2. Fake friends are like the dirt under my fingernails.
  3. Real, true friends are like gemstones – but fake friends are like pebbles. You can find them everywhere, and the best thing to do is just walk over them.
  4. Fake friends are like chewing gum – tasteless.
  5. False friends are swallows that are only there in summer, sundials that are only useful when the sun shines.
    (Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel the Elder, German satirical, 1741-1796)
  6. I have to make a few changes in my life. If you don’t hear from me again, then you were one of them.
  7. Fake friends are like autumn leaves: they fall away when things get cold.
  8. Some friends are like pennies – two-faced and worthless.
  9. False friends are like dogs that piss on those they love most.
    (Jonathan Swift, Irish author, 1667-1745)
  10. Ending things with fake friends is like taking out the trash.
  11. Fake friends are like a mirage: they let you believe that they are real, but when you get closer, they disappear.
  12. He who does not see the world in his friends does not deserve the world to know about him.
    (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, 1749-1832)
  13. Dishonest people build their lives on the hurts they do to others along the way.
  14. Fake friends are like puddles – you only truly see them when it rains.
  15. Fake friends are like rotten food – they leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Here you’ll find about honesty.

Quotes about Fake Friends to Think about

Quotes about Fake Friends to Think about

In this section you will find quotes that will help you reflect on a friendship. Are you always being let down by your friend, and most of the following quotes make you think of them? Then it’s probably time to cut contact.

Even if you feel like you should stay friends with the person, and the ‘loss’ hurts at first, it will be better for you in the long run.

Let these quotes about (fake) friendships sink in and think about the people you surround yourself with.

  1. Fake friends come into your life, take what they need and then leave again.
  2. There comes a time in your life when you have to step away from all the drama and distance yourself from the people who bring chaos into your life. It’s the beginning of your new future.
  3. A connection as close as that of friendship must be limited to a few. Friends are few, and youth cannot easily distinguish the faithful from the false.
    (Pope Clement VIII, Italian pope, 1536-1605)
  4. Being alone is better than spending time with fake friends.
    (From China)
  5. Property makes friends, I admit, but fake ones, and it doesn’t make them for you, but for itself.
    (Erasmus of Rotterdam, Dutch polymath, 1466-1536)
  6. Don’t be afraid of enemies who attack you. Be afraid of the friends who flatter you.
    (George Gordon Byron, British poet, 1788-1824)
  7. There are people who play a perfect show their whole lives and don’t even realize they are fooling themselves.
  8. You only recognize fake friends when it’s too late.
  9. Smile at me and give me things
    Is what a fake friend always sings.
    (German proverb)
  10. For who not needs shall never lack a friend,
    And who in want a hollow friend doth try,
    Directly seasons him his enemy.
    (William Shakespeare, English playwright, 1564-1616)
  11. We know how to honor the faithful friend.
    Preventing the false is prudence’s duty.
    (Friedrich Schiller, German dramatist, 1759-1805)
  12. Real friends see your mistakes and talk to you about them; fake friends see your mistakes and tell everyone else about them.
  13. Don’t fear the enemies who attack you, fear the fake friends who embrace you.
  14. False friendships are often made of convenience. Real friendships are made of understanding, acceptance and affection.
  15. Everyone takes care of themselves first. The friend is his own friend more than he is mine.
    (Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer, 1791-1872)
  16. Real friends don’t have to be in touch all the time. Real friends just pick up where you left off months ago.
  17. A dishonest and wicked friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your spirit.
    (Buddha, founder of Buddhism, 560 B.C.-483 B.C.)
  18. It is no true friendship if when one does not want to hear the truth, the other is willing to lie.
    (Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman orator and statesman, 106-43 B.C.)
  19. Friendship is something very valuable. Fake friendships too, because you learn from them.
  20. Are they our friends who serve our vices?
    (Friedrich Schiller, German dramatist, 1759-1805)

Here you’ll find quotes about true friendship.

Quotes about Fake Friendship for Your Status

Quotes about Fake Friendship for Your Status

If you want to make it clear on social media (like WhatsApp, Instagram or Facebook) just how disappointed you are by a fake friendship, then you should use one of the following quotes. These quotes about fake friends are great to share in your WhatsApp status, for example.

  1. You only recognize a person’s true character by how they treat you when they no longer need you.
  2. Only those who are willing to thank their friends for advice, even if it turned out to be wrong, have good character.
    (Abraham Lincoln, American president, 1809-1865)
  3. False friends run with the hares and hunt with the dogs.
    (From Silesia)
  4. Sometimes it’s not that people change, but that their masks slip.
  5. Fake friends see a forced smile, but real friends see the tears that are hiding behind it.
  6. Real friends are pure like water, but fake friends have honey on their lips.
  7. Friends are very important but not always sincere. You will see who your real friends are, because they stand by you in wind and rain.
  8. Fake friends are like our shadows: they stay with us as long as the sun is shining, but abandon us as soon as we step into the darkness.
  9. People who hurt others and then just get on with their lives, happily and without regrets, only show us how dirty their character is.
  10. Some people love to play the victim, even though they committed the crime.
  11. Real friends cry when you leave. Fake friends leave when you cry.
  12. Unfortunately, we only realize far too late how much precious time we have squandered with the wrong people.
  13. We never lose friends. We just learn who the real ones are.
  14. Friendship, like fire, needs to be nourished or it dies.
    (Johann Caspar Lavater, Swiss pastor, 1741-1801)
  15. It’s hard to find real friends, but fake ones are like grains of sand on the beach.

Quotes about the Betrayal of Fake Friends

Quotes about the Betrayal of Fake Friends

In the next section you will find further quotes and sayings about the disappointment that fake friends trigger in us. Let them go and express your frustration with the following quotes. Always remember: you don’t need fake friends!

  1. I didn’t lose a friend, I realized that I never had one.
  2. Disappointment is sometimes the beginning of the end of a friendship.
  3. Some people’s deeds prove that their words are worth nothing.
  4. A foolish friend is a greater plague than a wise foe.
  5. It is bad not to realize that one has no friends until one really needs friends, and there is no longer time to exchange false and false friends for true and steadfast ones.
    (Plutarch, Greek philosopher, unknown -c. 119)
  6. If someone never has time for you, then it’s only because of their priorities, because you make time for people who are really important to you.
  7. Once you have decided against me, you need never come into my life again.
  8. What greater wound is there than a false friend?
    (Sophocles, Greek poet, 496-406 B.C.)
  9. You can tell fake friends by the fact that they vanish into thin air when it really matters.
  10. One wrong thought, one wrong word, one wrong reaction… all of these can change your life for the worse. A false friend can too.

Tips on How to Spot Fake Friends

Tips on How to Spot Fake Friends

Unfortunately, there are many fake friends. You don’t always realize that you have a fake friend in your life.

Sometimes false friends only turn out to be such much later, when they already have you in the palm of their hand.

Some fake people manipulate their ‘friends’ unnoticed for years and perform a fake friendship with them.

Unfortunately, it is completely normal that we do not always recognize such deceptions easily. Sometimes we’ve been friends with people since we were little, we’ve been through thick and thin with them, and we just don’t have an objective view of the friendship anymore.

So that this doesn’t happen to you and you can identify your fake friends as such, we have compiled some characteristics of fake people for you.

They Want to Be The Most Important Thing In Your Life

Fake friends can’t handle it if you don’t put them first in your life. They are usually incredibly jealous of your other friends or your partner.

They Only Get In Touch When They Need Something

They Only Get In Touch When They Need Something

Fake friends only contact you when you can be of use to them. They then expect you to be available and able to help immediately. If you don’t jump straight to their side, they’ll make you feel bad.

On the other hand, they’re rarely there when you need them most, because then they can’t get anything useful out of you. If they have time or are bored, they will help you – but they always put their needs before yours.

In extreme cases, fake friends even borrow money from their "victims", which they never pay back.

Fake Friends Make Promises That They Never Keep

It’s not unusual in fake friendships for things to be promised, but never materialize. Fake friends often make empty promises to manipulate you and gain an advantage for themselves.

They Emotionally Blackmail You

They Emotionally Blackmail You

A hallmark of fake friends is that they emotionally blackmail you to get your help or get something else from you.

If you don’t do what they want, they will make you feel so guilty that you think you are a bad person.

A typical example would be saying something like: “If you’re really my friend, you have to do this now.”

The emotional blackmail sometimes goes so far that goes so far that fake friends will insult you if you don’t do exactly what they say.

When You’re Successful They Want to Be Closer to You

It’s typical of fake friends that they want to be very close to you when you are about to succeed or even become famous. They want "a piece of the pie" and hope to be in the spotlight themselves if they’re especially close to you now.

But if you find yourself in a difficult phase of your life and are at rock bottom, they will disappear faster than you can see.

They Put You Down

They Put You Down

The key to a real, good friendships should be supporting your friends’ projects and dreams. Of course, that doesn’t mean that you have to approve of and gloss over everything your friends do. But you should show appreciation.

Fake friends, on the other hand, are not able to support you. On the contrary, they make fun of your personality traits, instead of supporting and motivating you.

While you feel small and incapable, your fake friends can feel better about themselves.

That’s also the reason that they are always fishing for compliments and always want you to tell them how good they look. Fake friends always need to hear how great they are. Deep down, they are actually incredibly unhappy with themselves.

They Are Inconsiderate And They Lie

They Are Inconsiderate And They Lie

It is not uncommon for false friends to cheat for their own benefit or to get something. They’re not afraid to flat out lie to your face if it comes to it.

Being considerate is generally not their forte. They don’t care how you are doing or if they have to lie, as long as they can profit from it.

They Gossip about You Behind Your Back

Another bad trait of fake friends is that they gossip about you to others. They might act like they like you, but what they say about you behind your back tells a different story.

Fake Friends Don’t Apologize

Fake friends see no faults in themselves and rarely or never apologize. Toxic people are unable to admit their mistakes, and look out for others’ mistakes instead.

Fake Friends Contradict Themselves

Since fake friends always act in the way that is best for them and sometimes lie to their advantage, they often contradict themselves with their statements.

Unfortunately, it’s not always so easy to recognize this. Once you have pointed out the contradiction, a fake friend will of course try to make it seem as if you were wrong. Sometimes false friends then withdraw what was said or emphasize that they didn’t mean it that way.

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