“ Crime is in this country what crime is in other countries—a good friend to a man and to those about him as often as it is an enemy. ”
Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White (1859). copy citation
| Author | Wilkie Collins |
|---|---|
| Source | The Woman in White |
| Topic | crime enemies |
| Date | 1859 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/583/583-h/583-h.htm |
Context
“He is the quickest old gentleman at finding out faults that are his neighbours', and the slowest old gentleman at finding out the faults that are his own, who exists on the face of creation. Is he so very much better in this way than the people whom he condemns in their way? English Society, Miss Halcombe, is as often the accomplice as it is the enemy of crime. Yes! yes! Crime is in this country what crime is in other countries—a good friend to a man and to those about him as often as it is an enemy. A great rascal provides for his wife and family. The worse he is the more he makes them the objects for your sympathy. He often provides also for himself. A profligate spendthrift who is always borrowing money will get more from his friends than the rigidly honest man who only borrows of them once, under pressure of the direst want.”
source
