William Cowper (1731–1800) (1731–1800) English poet and hymnodist
On Friendship.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“He’s a friend indeed who proves himself a friend in need.”
Epidicus, Act I, sc. 2, line 9.
Epidicus
Context: The man that comforts a desponding friend with words alone, does nothing. He’s a friend indeed who proves himself a friend in need.
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Do you have more details about the quote "He’s a friend indeed who proves himself a friend in need." by Plautus?
Plautus54
Roman comic playwright of the Old Latin period -254–-184 BCRelated quotes
“Prove your friend ere you have need, but in deed
A friend is never known till a man have need.”
John Heywood (1497–1580) English writer known for plays, poems and a collection of proverbs
Part I, chapter 11.
Proverbs (1546)
“He that is a friend to himself, is a friend to all mankind.”
Marcus Annaeus Seneca (-54–39 BC) Roman scholar
Derived from Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium; Epistle VI of Seneca the Younger:
"I shall tell you what pleased me today in the writings of Hecato; it is these words: 'What progress, you ask, have I made? I have begun to be a friend to myself.' That was indeed a great benefit; such a person can never be alone. You may be sure that such a man is a friend to all mankind." ["Interim quoniam diurnam tibi mercedulam debeo, quid me hodie apud Hecatonem delectaverit dicam. 'Quaeris' inquit 'quid profecerim? amicus esse mihi coepi.' Multum profecit: numquam erit solus. Scito esse hunc amicum omnibus."]
Misattributed
“With friends like these, who needs Yemenis?”
Boris Johnson (1964) British politician, historian and journalist
At a summit about the civil war in Yemen, Financial Times, 19 September 2017 https://www.ft.com/content/4060a7e0-9972-11e7-a652-cde3f882dd7b <br class="br">Attributed
“A friend in need is a friend to be avoided.”
David Gemmell book Legend
Source: Drenai series, Legend, Pt 1: Against the Horde, Ch. 1
“6103. A Friend in Need
Is a Friend in Deed.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
Stephen King book It
Source: It (1986), Ch. 16 : Eddie's Bad Break, §8
Context: Maybe, he thought, there aren't any such things as good friends or bad friends — maybe there are just friends, people who stand by you when you're hurt and who help you feel not so lonely. Maybe they're always worth being scared for, and hoping for, and living for. Maybe worth dying for, too, if that's what has to be. No good friends. No bad friends. Only people you want, need to be with; people who build their houses in your heart.
Ali (601–661) cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad
As quoted in "Considerations By the Way" in Conduct of Life by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Variant translation: Believe me, a thousand friends suffice thee not; In a single enemy thou hast more than enough
