proverb · Words worth keeping
Lend to your friend–ask repayment from your enemy.
Lend to your friend–ask repayment from your enemy.
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Lending to a friend and seeking repayment from an enemy links a financial exchange with a strained relationship. The saying warns that asking for return can change an encounter.
Example
Friends clarify whether assistance is a gift or a loan before agreeing to it.
Deeper explanation and when to use it
The precise traditional context is unverified. A qualified reading does not treat repayment requests as hostility or predict that every loan ends friendship. Clear expectations, fair terms and freely chosen boundaries matter. This is not financial or legal advice about a particular debt.
When to use it
Use it only as a qualified relationship-and-obligation warning.
Keep in mind
No inevitable hostility, debt rule or financial outcome is established.
An interpretation of the words, not a claim about their earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
Denmark
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.- Historical period
- Date unknown
- Culture
- Denmark