“As to the friends and enemies you just mention, I have hitherto, thanks to God, had plenty of the former kind; they have been my treasure; and it has perhaps been of no disadvantage to me that I have had a few of the latter. They serve to put us upon correcting the faults we have, and avoiding those we are in danger of having. They counteract the mischief flattery might do us, and their malicious attacks make our friends more zealous in serving us and promoting our interest. At present, I do not know of more than two such enemies that I enjoy, viz. Lee and Izzard. I deserved the enmity of the latter, because I might have avoided it by paying him a compliment, which I neglected.”
—Benjamin Franklin, Smyth 8:306. (1781.)