he is my friend that succoreth me, not he that pitieth me

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

A friend is one who helps, not just feels sorry for you

Literally: he is my friend that helps me, not he that feels pity for me

Examples

He proved to be a true friend when he lent me money, as he is my friend that succoreth me, not he that pitieth me

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “he is my friend that succoreth me, not he that pitieth me” mean?

A friend is one who helps, not just feels sorry for you Literally: he is my friend that helps me, not he that feels pity for me

Is “he is my friend that succoreth me, not he that pitieth me” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.