[Ads-l] Quote: You have enemies? Good. That means you=?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=99ve_?=stood up for something, sometime in your life

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

I've received a half-dozen requests to trace the saying in the subject
line which is often attributed to Winston Churchill. Here is a link to
the Quote Investigator article:

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2022/03/24/enemies/

I found no substantive evidence that Winston Churchill made this
remark. He died in 1965, and he received credit many years later in
2002. See details in the QI article. If you can find a linkage to
Churchill before Oct. 2, 2002 please let me know.

Thematic matches did appear in the writings of Thomas Jefferson and
Victor Hugo, but these quotations were not close matches. Details are
given in the QI article.

The earliest close match I've found appeared in a 1993 book by fantasy
author Ed Greenwood. This work was part of the "Forgotten Realms"
series of the role-playing game "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons".
Greenwood’s volume titled "The Code of the Harpers" functioned as a
game accessory which presented background descriptions and customized
rules. Greenwood used the following invented quotation from a
fictional character as a chapter epigraph:

[ref] 1993 Copyright, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition,
Forgotten Realms: The Code of the Harpers by Ed Greenwood, Chapter:
Foes of the Harper, (Chapter epigraph), Quote Page 118, Column 1, TSR
Inc., Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. (Verified with scans) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
Ye have enemies? Good, good — that means ye’ve stood up for something,
sometime in thy life….
— Elminster of Shadowdale, speaking to a young Harper, Year of the Wyvern
[End excerpt]

If you can find an earlier close match please let me know.

Thanks,
Garson O'Toole

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