|
| Robert Christy, comp. Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages. 1887. |
| Friend |
| A clear bargain, a dear friend. Italian. | 1 |
| A courageous is better than a cowardly friend. | 2 |
| A fair weather friend changes with the wind. Spanish, Portuguese. | 3 |
| A faithful friend is the true image of the deity. Napoleon. | 4 |
| A false friend and a shadow attend only when the sun shines. Franklin. | 5 |
| A false friend has honey in his mouth, gall in his heart. German. | 6 |
| A false friend is worse than an open enemy. German. | 7 |
| A lather is a treasure, a brother a comfort, but a friend is both. | 8 |
| A foe to God was never true friend to man. Young. | 9 |
| A friend and look to thyself. | 10 |
| A friend as far as conscience allows. | 11 |
| A friend at one’s back is a safe bridge. Dutch. | 12 |
| A friend cannot be known in prosperity nor an enemy be hidden in adversity. | 13 |
| A friend in need is a friend in deed. | 14 |
| A friend in the market is better than money in the chest. | 15 |
| A friend is best found in adversity. | 16 |
| A friend is better than money in the purse. Dutch. | 17 |
| A friend is never known till needed. | 18 |
| A friend is not known till he is lost. | 19 |
| A friend is not so soon gotten as lost. | 20 |
| A friend is often best known by his loss. German. | 21 |
| A friend is one who jumps down and puts on the drag when he finds you are going down hill too fast. Punch. | 22 |
| A friend is to be taken with his faults. Portuguese. | 23 |
| A friend—one soul, two bodies. Oriental. | 24 |
| A friend should bear a friend’s infirmities. Shakespeare. | 25 |
| A friend that you buy with presents will be bought from you. | 26 |
| A friend to everybody is a friend to nobody. Spanish. | 27 |
| A friend to my table and wine is no good neighbor. French. | 28 |
| A friend without faults will never be found. | 29 |
| A friend’s dinner is soon dressed. Dutch. | 30 |
| A friend’s faults should be known but not abhorred. Portuguese. | 31 |
| A friend’s faults may be noticed but not blamed. Danish. | 32 |
| A friend’s frown is better than a fool’s smile. | 33 |
| A good friend is better than silver and gold. Dutch. | 34 |
| A good friend is my nearest relation. | 35 |
| A good friend never offends. | 36 |
| A good-natured friend is often only an enemy in disguise. Punch. | 37 |
| A man may see his friend need but winna see him bleed. | 38 |
| A man without a friend is only half a man. | 39 |
| A plaster house, a horse at grass, A friend in words, are all mere grass. Dutch. | 40 |
| A ready way to lose your friend is to lend him money. | 41 |
| A reconciled friend is a double enemy. | 42 |
| A rich friend is a treasure. | 43 |
| A sure friend is known in a doubtful case. | 44 |
| A table friend is changeable. French. | 45 |
| A thousand friends are few, one foe many. Turkish. | 46 |
| A treacherous friend is the most dangerous enemy. Fielding. | 47 |
| A true friend does sometimes venture to be offensive. | 48 |
| A true friend is above all things sure capital. German. | 49 |
| A true friend is better than a relation. Turkish. | 50 |
 | |
| A true friend is forever a friend. Geo. McDonald. | 51 |
| A true friend is known in the day of adversity. Turkish. | 52 |
| A true friend is the nectar of life. Tamil. | 53 |
| Admonish your friends in private, praise them in public. Publius Syrus. | 54 |
| Aft counting keeps friends lang thegither. | 55 |
| Ah! how good it feels, the hand of an old friend. Longfellow. | 56 |
| All are not friends who speak one fair. | 57 |
| An old friend is better than two new ones. German, Russian. | 58 |
| An untried friend is like an uncracked nut. Russian. | 59 |
| At weddings and funerals friends are discovered from kinsfolk. | 60 |
| Avoid a friend who covers you with his wings and destroys you with his beak. Spanish. | 61 |
| Be a friend to thyself and others will be so too. | 62 |
| Be blind to the failings of your friends but never to their vices. Tacitus. | 63 |
| Behold thy friend and of thyself the pattern see. | 64 |
| Before you make a friend eat a peck of salt with him. Scotch. | 65 |
| Better a good friend than silver and gold. German. | 66 |
| Better an open enemy than a false friend. Danish. | 67 |
| Better foes than hollow friends. Shakespeare. | 68 |
| Better have a friend on the road than gold or silver in your purse. French. | 69 |
| Better have a friend in the market-place than money in your coffer. Portuguese. | 70 |
| Between two friends, a notary and two witnesses. Spanish. | 71 |
| Beware of a reconciled friend as of a devil. Spanish. | 72 |
| Bought friends are not friends in deed. | 73 |
| By requiting one friend we invite many. | 74 |
| Can’t I be your friend, but I must be your fool too? | 75 |
| Defend me from my friends, I can defend myself from my enemies. Marechal Villars. | 76 |
| Desertion of a calumniated friend is an immoral action. Dr. Johnson. | 77 |
| Even reckoning keeps long friends. | 78 |
| Everybody’s companion is nobody’s friend. German. | 79 |
| Everybody’s friend and nobody’s friend is all one. Spanish, Portuguese. | 80 |
| Everybody’s friend is everybody’s fool. German, Dutch, Danish. | 81 |
| Eye-friend, false friend;—eye-friend, back enemy. German. | 82 |
| Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Bible. | 83 |
| Fall not out with a friend for a trifle. | 84 |
| Fall sick and you will see who is your friend and who is not. Spanish. | 85 |
| Familiar paths and old friends are the best. German. | 86 |
| False friends are worse than open enemies. | 87 |
| Few there are that will endure a true friend. | 88 |
| Fire and water are not more necessary than friends are. | 89 |
| Fresh fish and poor friends grow soon ill-fav’r’d. | 90 |
| Friends agree best at a distance. French. | 91 |
| Friends and mules fail us at hard passes. Gallician. | 92 |
| Friends are far from a man who is unfortunate. Latin. | 93 |
| Friends are like fiddle strings: they must not be screwed too tight. | 94 |
| Friends are like melons; shall I tell you why? To find one good you must a hundred try. Claude Mermet. | 95 |
| Friends are not so soon got or recovered as lost. | 96 |
| Friends are the nearest relations. | 97 |
| Friends become foes and foes are reconciled. Latin. | 98 |
| Friends got without desert are lost without cause. | 99 |
| Friends living far away are no friends. Greek. | 100 |
| Friends may meet but mountains never greet. | 101 |
| Friends need no formal invitation. | 102 |
| Friends tie their purse with a cobweb thread. Italian. | 103 |
| Give out that you have many friends and believe that you have but few. French. | 104 |
| Go slowly to the entertainments of thy friends and quickly to their misfortunes. Chilo. | 105 |
| God keep me from my friends, from my enemies I will keep myself. Italian. | 106 |
| Good neighbors and true friends are two things. | 107 |
| Happy men shall have many friends. | 108 |
| Have but few friends though much acquaintance. | 109 |
| He is a fair weather friend. | 110 |
| He is my friend who grinds at my mill. Spanish, Portuguese. | 111 |
| He is my friend that succoreth me, not he that pitieth me. | 112 |
| He is no friend that eats his own by himself and mine with me. Portuguese. | 113 |
| He makes no friend who never made a foe. Tennyson. | 114 |
| He never was a friend who ceased to be so for a slight cause. Portuguese. | 115 |
| He never was a friend who has ceased to be one. French. | 116 |
| He is a friend at sneezing time, the most that can be got from him is a “God bless you.” Italian. | 117 |
| He that seeks to have many friends never has any. Italian. | 118 |
| He that trusts a faithless friend has a good witness against him. Spanish. | 119 |
| He that would have many friends should try a few of them. Italian. | 120 |
| He who cannot counterfeit a friend, can never be a dangerous enemy. | 121 |
| He who for his own sake would expose a friend deserves not to have one. Rousseau. | 122 |
| He who has a good nest finds good friends. Portuguese. | 123 |
| He who has a thousand friends, has not a friend to spare, He who has one enemy shall meet him everywhere. Persian. | 124 |
| He who has many friends has no friends. Aristotle. | 125 |
| He who has no enemy has no friend. German. | 126 |
| He who is everybody’s friend is either very poor or very rich. Spanish. | 127 |
| He who is his own friend is a friend to all men. Seneca. | 128 |
| He who is wanting but to one friend loseth a great many by it. | 129 |
| He who makes friends of all keeps none. | 130 |
| He is a good friend that speaks well of us behind our backs. | 131 |
| Here’s to our friends and hang up the rest of mankind. | 132 |
| Hit him again, he has no friends. | 133 |
| I am on good terms with the friend who eats his bread with me. Spanish. | 134 |
| I was wounded in the house of my friends. Bible. | 135 |
| I will be thy friend but not thy vices’ friend. | 136 |
| I would rather have a dog my friend than enemy. German. | 137 |
| If you had had fewer friends and more enemies you had been a better man. | 138 |
| If you have one true friend you have more than your share. | 139 |
| If you want enemies excel others, if you want friends let others excel you. | 140 |
| If you wanted me an’ your meat, you would want a gude freende. | 141 |
| In time of prosperity friends will be plenty. In time of adversity not one amongst twenty. | 142 |
| It is a good friend that is always giving though it be never so little. | 143 |
| It is as bad to have too many friends as no friend at all. Latin. | 144 |
| It is better to decide a difference between enemies than friends, for one of our friends will certainly become an enemy, and one of our enemies a friend. Bias. | 145 |
| It is good to have friends everywhere. | 146 |
| It is important but not easy to distinguish a true friend from an agreeable enemy. Petrarch. | 147 |
| It is more disgraceful to suspect our friends than to be deceived by them. French. | 148 |
| It is no small grief to a good nature to try his friends. Euripides. | 149 |
| It is no use hiding from a friend what is known to an enemy. Danish. | 150 |
| Keep your mouth and keep your friend. Danish. | 151 |
| Let him who is wretched and beggared try everybody and then his friend. Italian. | 152 |
| Let not one enemy be little in thy eyes, nor a thousand friends be many in thy sight. Hebrew. | 153 |
| Let our friends perish provided our enemies fall with them. (An atrocious maxim of the Greeks and Romans.) | 154 |
| Let us be friends and put out the devil’s eyes. | 155 |
| Let us be friends, let our purses be at variance. Modern Greek. | 156 |
| Little intermitting makes gude freends. | 157 |
| Make no friend of thy thrall. Northmen. | 158 |
| Make not thy friend too cheap to thee, nor thyself to thy friend. | 159 |
| Many a man is a good friend but a bad neighbor. Danish. | 160 |
| Many friends and few helpers in need. German. | 161 |
| Many humble servants but not one true friend. | 162 |
| Many kinsfolk, few friends. | 163 |
| May God not prosper our friends that they forget us. Spanish. | 164 |
| My friend is he who helps me in time of need. German. | 165 |
| My friend’s enemy is often my best friend. German. | 166 |
| No better friend than the man himself. German. | 167 |
| No friend a friend until he shall prove a friend. Beaumont and Fletcher. | 168 |
| No longer foster, no longer friend. | 169 |
| Nothing is more annoying than a tardy friend. Plautus. | 170 |
| Nothing is so dangerous as an ignorant friend. (This maxim is illustrated by the fable of the bear and the man.) La Fontaine. | 171 |
| Old friends and new reckonings. French. | 172 |
| Old friends are best. Selden. | 173 |
| Old friends and old ways ought not to be disdained. Danish. | 174 |
| Old friends and old wine are best. | 175 |
| Old friends are not to be paid with gold. German. | 176 |
| Old tunes are sweetest and old friends are surest. | 177 |
| On the choice of friends our good or evil name depends. Gray. | 178 |
| One enemy can harm you more than a hundred friends can do you good. German. | 179 |
| One enemy is too much for a man in a great post and a hundred friends are too few. | 180 |
| One God no more, but friends good store. | 181 |
| One seldom finds white ravens and true friends. German. | 182 |
| One should fly a laughing enemy and a flattering friend. German. | 183 |
| Prove thy friends ere thou have need. | 184 |
| Rather have a little one for your friend, than a great one for your enemy. Italian. | 185 |
| Save me from my friends. | 186 |
| So long as fortune sits at the table friends sit there. German. | 187 |
| Sweet language will multiply friends. Spectator. | 188 |
| Tell nothing to thy friend which thy enemy may not know. Danish. | 189 |
| Tell your friend your secret and he will set his foot on your neck. Italian, Spanish, Portuguese. | 190 |
| The best friend often becomes the worst enemy. German. | 191 |
| The best looking-glass is an old friend. German. | 192 |
| The best of friends must part. | 193 |
| The enemy of my friend is often my best friend. German. | 194 |
| The false friend is like the shadow of a sundial. French. | 195 |
| The friend looks at the head, the enemy at the foot. Turkish. | 196 |
| The friends thou hast and their adoption tried, Grapple to thy soul with hooks of steel. Shaksespeare. | 197 |
| The goods of friends are in common. Pythagoras. | 198 |
| The greatest affliction that can befall a man is the unkindness of a friend. Fielding. | 199 |
| The greatest blessing is a pleasant friend. Horace. | 200 |
| The hireling is gained by money, the true friend by an obliging behavior. Chinese. | 201 |
| The interested friend is a swallow on the roof. (Prepared to leave on the appearance of winter.) French. | 202 |
| The oldest friend is the best friend for a man. Plautus. | 203 |
| The only way to have a friend is to be one. Emerson. | 204 |
| The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it. Holmes. | 205 |
| The voice is powerful of a faithful friend. Homer. | 206 |
| There is no living without friends. Portuguese. | 207 |
| There is no more hold of a new friend than of a new fashion. | 208 |
| There’s no living without friends. Portuguese. | 209 |
| They are rich who have friends. Spanish, Portuguese, Latin. | 210 |
| They are rich who have true friends. | 211 |
| They cease to be friends who dwell afar off. Latin. | 212 |
| ’Tis easier to preserve a friend than to recover him when lost. | 213 |
| To a friend’s house the road is never long. Danish. | 214 |
| To be every one’s friend is to be every one’s fool. German. | 215 |
| To preserve a friend three things are required: to honor him present, praise him absent, and assist him in his necessities. Italian. | 216 |
| Treat your friend as if you knew that he will one day become your enemy. Laberius. | 217 |
| Trust not the praise of a friend nor the contempt of an enemy. Italian. | 218 |
| Try your friend ere you trust him. | 219 |
| Try your friend with a falsehood and if he keep it a secret tell him the truth. Italian. | 220 |
| Unless you bear with the faults of a friend you betray your own. Publius Syrus. | 221 |
| We can live without a brother but not without a friend. German. | 222 |
| We can live without our friends but not without our neighbors. | 223 |
| We must ask what is proper from our friends. Cicero. | 224 |
| We shall never have friends if we expect to have them without fault. | 225 |
| We should behave toward our friends, as we should wish them to behave toward us. Aristotle. | 226 |
| We should have many well wishers but few friends. Spectator. | 227 |
| When a friend asketh there is no to-morrow. Spanish. | 228 |
| When friends meet, hearts warm. | 229 |
| When good cheer is lacking, our friends will be packing. | 230 |
| When there are two friends to one purse, the one sings, the other weeps. Spanish. | 231 |
| Where friends, there riches. German, Portuguese. | 232 |
| Where shall a man have a worse friend than he brings from home? | 233 |
| Where two faithful friends meet, God makes up a third. | 234 |
| Wherever you see your friend trust yourself. | 235 |
| Wherever you see your kindred, make much of your friends. | 236 |
| Who has no friends only half lives. German. | 237 |
| Who has true friends is rich. German. | 238 |
| Who in want a hollow friend doth try, Directly seasons him his enemy. Shakespeare. | 239 |
| Who makes friends of all keeps none. German. | 240 |
| Who would have many friends let him test but few. Italian. | 241 |
| Without a friend the world is a wilderness. | 242 |
| Your candid friend has never anything pleasant to say to you; he reminds you of his pet virtue by wounding you with it. | 243 |
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