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25 Ex Best Friend Quotes to Deal with Outgrowing or Ending a Friendship

Losing a friend is hard enough, but a best friend? That feels insufferable. Hopefully these ex best friend quotes help you get through this.

ex best friend quotes

Deciding to end a friendship is almost harder than when you break up with someone. You’re making the conscious decision to cut someone out of your life who’s probably been there for a really long time. Fortunately, ex-best friend quotes can make you feel much better about the end of your friendship.

While there’s no magical solution to make all your sorrows go away, quotes can certainly make you feel understood and less lonely. When it’s an ex-best friend we’re talking about, you really need all the help you can get. [Read: How to tell if a friend is toxic and brings unhappiness to your life]

Not all friends are supposed to stay in your life

We all dream of keeping our current friends for the rest of our lives, but things don’t always go as planned. Just like a relationship ends, the same goes for friendships. As we grow older, we also grow within ourselves, but sometimes we grow apart from the people we love most. In 10 years from now, you’ll be different to how you are right now.

If you’re lucky, you and your friends will change together and still have enough in common to remain best friends. If you’re unlucky, you won’t. This feeling sucks, but that’s the reality of life. Friendships, even the best ones in your life, can end for a multitude of reasons.

Maybe you grew apart, maybe the friendship is no longer bringing any value to your life, or maybe one of you did something hurtful to the other. Whatever happens, life goes on. [Read: How to get rid of a toxic friend for good]

Ex best friend quotes to help you get through it

You’ll be bummed out for a while. Unless they did something horrible enough to make you not care about them at all, you’ll go through an adjustment period. These ex best friend quotes will help you get through that time with a little more ease. [Read: 25 inspiring quotes to share with your best friend]

1. “Some people aren’t loyal to you. They are loyal to their need of you. Once their needs change, so does their loyalty.”

It happens. You once had a loyal friend, but only because they needed something. It sucks to be on the receiving end of this, but it can happen.

What matters now is that you learned from the friendship, and you can use this as a learning experience for all your future friendships. Remember that it’s not your fault, but it’s theirs for using you. [Read: When & how to end a friendship if they’re toxic & holding you back]

2. “We never really lose friends, we just realize who the real ones are.”

When the going gets tough, real ones stick around while the flakes drift away. This is one of the ex best friend quotes that’ll make you realize how your darkest days will help reveal who your true friends really are.

These are the people who will have to back through thick and thin, through sunshine and darkness. [Read: 15 qualities of a truly good friend]

3. “Sometimes the person you’d take a bullet for ends up being the gun.”

Backstabbers – or shooters – aren’t good for anyone. You trust someone so much, and they can often betray that.

Watch your back closely because those who’d be willing to go to such great lengths for often are the first ones to betray you.

4. “Dear ex best friend, I never hated you. I’m only disappointed because you became someone you said you’d never be.”

The thing that’s the most difficult to bear is when a friend completely changes into someone you hate and who they said they’d never be.

Outgrowing people is one of the worst feelings in the world because they didn’t betray you or do anything bad – they just changed for the worse. We’re often told that people change, but nobody ever prepares us for how bad it actually feels. [Read: Toxic friends – 10 types of friends to avoid]

5. “Why should I make an effort to keep us together when you’re throwing the wedge between us in the first place?”

When someone is no longer adding any value to your life, it’s time to cut them loose. Effort isn’t just an important factor in relationships, but for friendships as well. This is one of the ex best friend quotes that makes you realize you can’t fight for a friendship when you’re the only one left fighting.

6. “Not friends. Not enemies. Just strangers with memories.”

Not everyone who disappears from your life does so in a negative way. Some people just drift apart, and you’re just strangers who have memories together.

It’s so easy for this to happen within friendships, which is why it’s important to do something about it if you want to keep your friend around forever. [Read: How to break up with a friend – The respectful steps you must follow]

7. “Strangers can become best friends just as easily as best friends can become strangers.”

Not all of us realize when a friend is changing right before our eyes. They were your best friend, and now you can barely recognize who they’ve become. Even if you want to help, you know it’s out of your hands.

They become so unrecognizable that you’re left with no choice but to cut ties with them. [Read: 17 bad friends you have to get rid of ASAP]

8. “Oh, I forgot. I only existed when you needed something.”

These types of people are the worst. Say goodbye and be done with them.

You genuinely thought they were offering you friendship, but they only come around when they need something. You don’t deserve these friends, and you’re better off without them.

9. “Somebody asked me if I knew you, but all I could do was smile and say, ‘I used to.’”

It’s just how life goes sometimes. You think you know someone until they do something or change in a way that you can’t even recognize.

This is one of the ex best friend quotes that make you realize there are friendships you can’t save, no matter how hard you try. [Read: How to move on and real with a break up with a smile]

10. “Somewhere along the line, I forgot who I really am because of you.”

Like relationships, you can also lose yourself because of a friendship.

Our friends have a lot of influence over us. They can even change who we are for a while until we wake up and realize our lives are better off without them. They can make you forget the essence of who you are before they came into the picture.

11. “It’s okay to miss the memories and not the person.”

You can wish you had those times and memories back even if you don’t want the person around. We promise it doesn’t make you a bad person for feeling this way.

It makes you human for being a best friend, regardless of how the friendship ended. What happened was still good and fun, even if they’re not anymore. [Read: Do you miss your ex or think about them often?]

12. “It’s funny that the people who hurt you the most said they never would.”

This is probably the worst betrayal and heartbreak you can feel in a friendship—the type where you never see it coming. You never thought they’d be the people first to stab you in the back or hurt you until they actually do it.

13. “I lost you but found myself.”

Friends can often be what’s blocking our view of ourselves. When you lose them, you might just realize who you really are, and you’re better off because of it.

The ended friendship might hurt, but at least you became better because of that loss. [Read: 11 tips to start loving yourself again]

14. “I don’t hate you. I just hope you find a friend just like you someday.”

If they were the worst type of friend ever, this is one of the perfect ex best friend quotes for you. Friendships can be a learning experience where you do everything to avoid having a friend like them ever again *especially when they treated you badly.*

They don’t deserve someone as loyal and loving as you. In fact, they deserve exactly the type of friend they are.

15. “Pay close attention to those who don’t clap when you win.”

True friends support each other. Fake, toxic friends are the ones who ooze jealousy when you succeed. Watch those who feel highly threatened by your success as those aren’t your real friends.

Your true friends should be nothing less than supportive of your successes and goals. If they show anything less, drop them. [Read: When people use you – Stop being a doormat and feel in control again]

16. “Things happen. People change.”

There’s really nothing more you need to justify moving on from someone you once called a friend. If your best friend changed opposite to the direction of your growth, then there’s no reason to keep them in your life.

Especially when they’re just negatively impacting your betterment as a whole, it’s much better to accept you grew apart and part ways.

17. ’Best friends forever’ is what they used to say. As it turns out, forever was too far away.”

Not every “forever” can hold its true meaning. When you meet someone who promises this and can’t stay true to it, you know your life is better without them.

We’ve all promised forever to someone without it working the way we wanted, and the same goes for friendships. Even if you badly wanted them to be your best friend forever, life can have different plans for you. [Read: Bad friends – 25 types of friends you MUST unfriend from your life]

18. “It’s okay to miss people even if you don’t want them in your life.”

There are a lot of people you might miss and don’t want anything to do with anymore. Don’t feel bad for missing them as this happens to everyone. Instead, you can use these ex best friend quotes to make yourself feel better one day at a time.

You can’t just stop missing them entirely as they clearly meant something to you. This is a normal part of life and it passes with time.

19. “You didn’t lose a friend if you never had one, to begin with.”

This can help you feel a lot better about splitting up with someone you called a friend.

Maybe what you thought was friendship was merely just a way of manipulation for them to get what they wanted from you. They were never your friend if they just wanted to use you from the start. [Read: Codependent friendship – The bad signs and why it’s unhealthy for you]

20. “Never push a person to the point where they no longer give a shit.”

Some “friends” do this. They keep poking and pushing just to see how far they can get. Boundaries exist for a reason even in friendships, and when others keep pushing you to your limits, then there’ll come a day you stop caring about them entirely.

Jokes on them because now they lost someone as great as you. [Read: 25 early signs that point to a toxic person]

21. “Fake friends believe in rumors. Real friends believe in you.”

It deeply sucks when the one person you thought knew you more than anyone else believes in the rumors and lies told by everyone else.

When they believe in rumors far easier than you, then this isn’t a friend you deserve to have by your side. This is one of the ex best friend quotes that remind you of the kind of best friend you deserve to have in your life.

22. “Friendship is like paper. It will never be the same once crumpled.”

Trust is fragile, so when that trust is broken in a friendship, you can’t easily repair the damage. If they betray you, lie to you, or manipulate you in any way, it’s not a friendship you can fix overnight, no matter how much you want to.

When the trust has been ruined, then it’s not as easy to get that friendship back. [Read: 24 signs you have really shitty friends and need to get some new ones]

23. “Beware the person who stabs you and then tells the world they’re the one who’s bleeding.”

You should be wary of people who claim to be your best friend and then stab you in the back, claiming that they’re the ones who’ve been wronged. You have a manipulator as your best friend.

This is one of the worst situations you can encounter in friendships, as there’s nothing like the betrayal from someone who plays the victim, even when it’s you who was wronged.

24. “Strangers can become best friends just as quickly as best friends can become strangers.”

No matter how much you miss your best friend and want them back, remember that strangers can easily become best friends in a heartbeat. It’s the painful truth, and there’s no getting around this fact.

Even after the many things you’ve gone through together, you can easily revert to being strangers again *which deeply sucks.* [Read: 18 honest reasons why you don’t have friends that care about you]

25. “One fake friend can do more damage than five enemies.”

While having enemies feels bad enough, there’s nothing worse than having a best friend. You thought they were offering nothing but genuine friendship, but they were being fake all this time. They never wanted to be your friend – they just wanted to use you to get what they wanted.

To you, they act nice, but behind your back, they’ve already stabbed you multiple times. This is a friend worth walking away from as you won’t benefit from this friendship at all.

Did any of these ex best friend quotes help you?

When you’re grieving over the loss of a friendship, it’s important to feel understood and heard with the mess of emotions you’re feeling.

Whether you feel angry, hurt, heartbroken, or betrayed, finding the right words through quotes can help you feel better and move on amidst the insufferable end of the friendship.

[Read: When people hurt you – How to deal with the pain and respond to them]

Losing friends is all part of the cycle of life. It’s difficult, but with these ex best friend quotes, you’ll cope better. Eventually, you’ll be able to move on from the friendship that hurt you badly. 

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Preeti Tewari Serai
Preeti Serai
Preeti, the founder of LovePanky, is an eternal optimist and believer in the beauty of love and life. With an exhaustive experience in love, relationships, and ...