a false friend and a shadow stay only while the sun shines
a false friend and a shadow stay only while the sun shines
proverb Someone who is insincere or duplicitous will vanish in times of difficulty. I thought he was a real friend, that he would support me through thick and thin. I guess it's really true—a false friend and a shadow stay only while the sun shines. She was surrounded during the height of her fame by people who were eager to hang on her coattails. But false friends and shadows stay only while the sun shines, and when she lost everything, all those hangers-on deserted her.
See also: and, false, friend, shadow, shine, stay, sun, while
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
- teach a man to fish
- a false friend is worse than an open enemy
- false friends are worse than open enemies
- it takes a village
- village
- a burnt child dreads the fire
- signify
- the best-laid plans
- the best-laid plans go astray
- the best-laid plans of mice and men