Speech made on the campaign trail in Portland, Oregon (21 September 1932)
1930s
“I have no enemies. But my friends don't like me.”
Remark to editor William Alan White, as quoted in Thomas Harry Williams et al. (1959) A History of the United States.
1920s
“Defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my enemies.”
Garantissez-moi de mes amis, écrivait Gourville proscrit et fugitif, je saurai me défendre de mes ennemis. ("Defend me from my friends," wrote Gourville, exile and fugitive, "I can defend myself from my enemies.") — Gabriel Sénac de Meilhan, Considérations sur l'esprit et les moeurs (1788): "De L'Amitié." Sénac de Meilhan was quoting Jean Hérault, sieur de Gourville (1625 - 1703).
The remark has often been attributed to Voltaire and to Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars.
Misattributed
“Lord, protect me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies.”
Variation: Defend me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies myself The quote has been attributed to Voltaire, who was using it after Villars. Quoted in Connie Robertson, Dictionary of Quotations, 1998
Source: The 48 Laws of Power
“I can be on guard against my enemies, but God deliver me from my friends!”
In response to George Henry Lewes (LL, II, v, 272); Miriam Farris Allott (1974), The Brontës, the critical heritage, page 160;
After being refused a passport for his supposed disloyalty. The New York Herald Tribune (31 March 1954)
“It occurred to me that if my friends were loathsome, perhaps I needed to learn from my enemies.”
Homecoming saga, Earthborn (1995)
“If the enemy of my enemy is my friend, then surely you should be friend to my friend.”
Source: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
