“He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas.”
The proverb uses a comic physical image to make a serious point: companions and environments often leave consequences behind.
Poor Richard’s Almanack; Franklin uses the image as a warning about association and consequences.
“Fair weather friends are not worth much.”
Friendship that exists only while circumstances are easy has little value when loyalty is actually tested by difficulty.
Moral printed after “The Swallow and the Crow” in the Townsend translation of the fables.
“Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.”
The maxim pairs careful choice before commitment with tolerance afterward, compressing a practical relationship philosophy into a comic contrast.
Poor Richard’s Almanack; a marital maxim later repeated in discussions of Franklin’s proverbial advice.
“Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”
Good relationships can improve judgment and character through challenge, conversation, and mutual influence.
Proverbs 27:17 in the King James Version; the proverb uses sharpening as an image for the way one person can strengthen or refine another.
“Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:”
The proverb treats repeated fury as socially contagious, warning that close association can shape habits and judgment.
Proverbs 22:24 in the King James Version; the next verse warns that a person can learn the ways of the habitually angry.
“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”
Companions shape judgment and habits, so choosing relationships also means choosing some of the influences that shape a life.
Proverbs 13:20, King James Version.
“For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?”
Mr. Bennet’s joke treats social observation as reciprocal: everyone is somebody else’s entertainment, including the people doing the laughing.
Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 57; Mr. Bennet comments on the absurd rumour concerning Elizabeth and Darcy.
