with friends like these, who needs enemies

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

• /ˌwɪθ fɹɛn(d)z laɪk ðiːz ˌhu niːdz ˈɛnəmiːz/
  Play

The Yale Book of Quotations cites American comedian Joey Adams as the originator of this line.

5 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• French: avec des amis comme ça, on n'a pas besoin d'ennemis — indicating that one's close associates prove more adversarial than one's opponents
• German: wer solche Freunde hat, braucht keine Feinde — indicating that one's close associates prove more adversarial than one's opponents
• Portuguese: com amigos assim, quem precisa de inimigos — indicating that one's close associates prove more adversarial than one's opponents
• Spanish: con amigos así, ¿para qué quieres enemigos? — indicating that one's close associates prove more adversarial than one's opponents
• Spanish: con amigos así, ¿para qué quiero enemigos? — indicating that one's close associates prove more adversarial than one's opponents