Quote 7
Mitch, I said. Mitch is what my friends call me.
"Well, Mitch it is then," Morrie says, as if closing a deal. "And Mitch?"
Yes?
"I hope that one day you will think of me as your friend." (4.54-57)
Here goes Morrie with the let's-be-friends thing again. During his first class, Morrie asks Mitch what he likes to be called, which is a friendly thing for a professor to do. And Mitch feels like there's some kind of "deal" being closed. Friendship is a deal, a choice.
Quote 8
"Say I was divorced, or living alone, or had no children. This disease—what I'm going through—would be so much harder. I'm not sure I could do it. Sure, people would come visit, friends, associates, but it's not the same as having someone who will not leave." (14.11)
Morrie is talking about family. Even though he has lots of friends who come to visit him, he's saying that family is a type of friendship that can't be replaced. It's so important for people to have family because they're stuck to you no matter what.
Quote 9
"Over the years, I met Norman a few times and he always tried to reconcile, but I didn't accept it. I wasn't satisfied with his explanation. I was prideful. I shrugged him off." (23.10)
In their talk about forgiveness, Morrie opens up to Mitch and tells him about an old friend whom he turned his back on because of a bad situation between them. He's sad about it now because he never had the chance to make things right, and tells Mitch that forgiveness toward friends is always more important than wanting to be right.