Friend?

"A friend to all is a friend to none." - Aristotle

From M-W.com:

friend (noun)

• one attached to another by affection or esteem

• a favored companion

acquaintance (noun)

• a person with whom one is acquainted

• a person whom one knows but who is not a particularly close friend

Sometimes I need to be reminded that most of my Facebook "friends" are actually mere acquaintances in real life. Lately I've been feeling that giving the title of "friend" to people who would be more accurately classified as acquaintances cheapens the title of friend for those people I actually am "attached to by affection or esteem." I want my close friends to know that I don't easily consider people friends - at least in real life - and that I don't share my thoughts, feelings, and hopes with just anyone. On the contrary, there are very, very few people I share those things with.

"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be 

well tried before giving them your confidence." - George Washington