“ an enemy can partly ruin a man, but it takes a good-natured injudicious friend to complete the thing and make it perfect. ”
Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894). copy citation
| Author | Mark Twain |
|---|---|
| Source | Pudd'nhead Wilson |
| Topic | ruin enemies |
| Date | 1894 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/102/102-h/102-h.htm |
Context
“They read those playful trifles in the solidest earnest, and decided without hesitancy that if there had ever been any doubt that Dave Wilson was a pudd’nhead—which there hadn’t—this revelation removed that doubt for good and all. That is just the way in this world; an enemy can partly ruin a man, but it takes a good-natured injudicious friend to complete the thing and make it perfect. After this the Judge felt tenderer than ever toward Wilson, and surer than ever that his calendar had merit.
Judge Driscoll could be a free-thinker and still hold his place in society because he was the person of most consequence in the community, and therefore could venture to go 72 his own way and follow out his own notions.”
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