proverb · Words worth keeping
For a good companion good company.
For a good companion good company.
In print by 1857 AD · industrial
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Good companionship is answered with good company. The short exchange values the quality of a shared relationship, without making friendship a payment or assuming that agreement alone makes someone a good companion.
What the words are saying
The repetition connects being a good companion with receiving good company. Read it as an invitation to bring consideration to a relationship whose quality depends on more than one person. Listening, reliability and room for disagreement can help make time together worthwhile. The source does not specify a test of goodness, and pleasant company is not proof of good conduct in every setting. Nor does offering care guarantee that others will return it. The useful question concerns how people treat each other, rather than how many companions they gather.
Everyday example
Two walking partners choose a pace both can enjoy and listen to each other instead of treating the outing as a competition.
When to use it
Use it to consider what each person contributes to the quality of time together.
What it does not mean
Companionship should be voluntary; considerate conduct does not create a debt or require agreement on everything.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional (Spanish-language collection)
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- In print by 1857 AD · industrial
In print by 1857: recorded in A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (1857). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (1857) (1857 AD)
Printed page 193; Spanish section, paragraph 4033; source wording: A buen compañon buena compañia.
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.