“You must be proud, bold, pleasant, resolute,
And now and then stab, when occasion serves.”
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Christopher Marlowe 55
English dramatist, poet and translator 1564–1593Related quotes
The Lie (1608).
Source: Blue Remembered Earth (2012), Epilogue (p. 562; closing words)
…I'm very sorry."
Video game commentary, Calm Time (November 23, 2013)
Source: Calm Time | MOST DISTURBING GAME, Markiplier, wikipedia:Markiplier, November 23, 2013, YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQQLZ6mRyrE,
“True friends stab you in the front”
Also found in variants such as "A true friend stabs you in the front".
The earliest known example of this quote comes from Walter Winchell's syndicated newspaper column in mid-January 1955: 'On Broadway, cynically reports Jimmy Nelson, "a true friend is one who stabs you in the front"'
The earliest version of this quote found in Google Books is from 1958, where the quote "A true friend is one who stabs you in the front" is attributed to actor Steve Dunne https://books.google.com/books?id=MF5-AAAAMAAJ&q=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&dq=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwig2JCRnKrMAhUC42MKHaNzCGsQ6AEIHDAA.
In 1981, a similar quote: "He is a fine friend. He stabs you in the front" was attributed to Hollywood writer and producer Leonard Levinson https://books.google.com/books?id=Xbe8zbfuVLgC&q=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&dq=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMjOrQnKrMAhVL2GMKHcQQDSgQ6AEIHTAA.
In 1984, an article in Ms. Magazine https://books.google.com/books?id=sfIbAQAAMAAJ&q=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&dq=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMjOrQnKrMAhVL2GMKHcQQDSgQ6AEIJzAC stated that "the Hollywood definition of a friend" was "someone who stabs you in the front".
The earliest attribution to Oscar Wilde was from 1989 https://books.google.com/books?id=CnQJAAAAIAAJ&q=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22+wilde&dq=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22+wilde&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj2oqLfnKrMAhVG52MKHXdPANkQ6AEIJTAC: "A good friend is one who stabs you in the front". No source was given.
Disputed
Variant: A good friend will always stab you in the front.
Source: e.g. "Broadway and Elsewhere" https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/3706522/, Pharos-Tribune (Logansport, IN), 1955-01-16, p. 4
“I drink when I have occasion, and sometimes when I have no occasion.”
Source: Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–1615), Part II (1615), Book III, Ch. 33.
“We are always on stage, even when we are stabbed in earnest at the end.”
Act II.
Dantons Tod (Danton's Death) (1835)