Quote#Friendship
I can easily conceive that you see no reason for so much…
Quote byJoseph Ritson · 1752–1803
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Enemies, The Letters of Joseph Ritson, Volume I p. 128.
English (original)
I can easily conceive that you see no reason for so much punctiliousness, but people act from their own conviction and their own feelings, and for my part I shall very readily confess that I had much rather both be and have a declared enemy, than an insincere friend.
— Joseph Ritson
More from Joseph Ritson
You complain, I see, that I have too much acidity in my composition; and, I think, you have too much puritanism. St. Matthew, vii. 5.
It has been frequently said that fools make knaves; it is equally true, I believe, that credulity is the parent of falsehood.
I am much obliged by the pains you have taken in detecting the blunders of the English Anthology. Some of them, however, are those of the author himself, or of the authority, at least, whence the piece is taken, and for these, of course, …
Dr. Fuller to Ritson: "But Who made him[Robin Hood] a judge? or gave him a commission to take where it might be best spared, and give where it was most wanted?"
Ritson: "That same power, one may answer, which authorises kings to take where it can be worst spared, and give it where it is least wanted. Our hero, in this respect, was a knight-errant; and wanted no other commission than that of …
As writing seems to be attended with some difficulty if not uneasiness, you have only to put down a figure of 4 or 5 before a cypher to satisfy me of the verity of the matter: a nod, you know, is as good as a wink to a blind horse.