--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Friendship, like credit, is highest when…" description: "\"Friendship, like credit, is highest when it is not used.\" — Elbert Hubbard" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a71/elbert-hubbard-510_credit_friendship-like-credit-is-highest-when-i_3179104.png" --- # Friendship, like credit, is highest when it is not used. ![“Friendship, like credit, is highest when it is not used.” quote by Elbert Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a71/elbert-hubbard-510_credit_friendship-like-credit-is-highest-when-i_3179104.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a71/elbert-hubbard-510_credit_friendship-like-credit-is-highest-when-i_3179104.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a71/elbert-hubbard-510_credit_friendship-like-credit-is-highest-when-i_3179104.png) > “Friendship, like credit, is highest when it is not used.” [Elbert Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbert-hubbard/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Friendship is most valuable when it is not exploited for personal gain. **In simple terms:** True friends aren’t used like credit. Key Takeaway Cultivate relationships without expecting returns. Themes friendship trust generosity Mood thoughtful inspirational Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - team projects - family gatherings - networking events Key Concepts social contract reciprocity Questions to Reflect On - Do you give more than you receive? - How can you balance support and self‑care? A Different Perspective People may misinterpret generosity as weakness. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Credit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/credit/) [Friend](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friend/) [Friendship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friendship/) ## Related quotes > [I don't really like too much credit. I know nobody's going to believe this, but I'd rather be able to score goals and nobody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bradley-wright-phillips/i-don-t-really-like-too-much-credit-i-know-nobody-s-going-to-believe/) [Bradley Wright-Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bradley-wright-phillips/) > [Your life is like credit. If you make bad choices and decisions its gonna effect everything in your life as well as yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/your-life-is-like-credit-if-you-make-bad-choices-and-decisions-its/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I don't like credit cards. Let me triple underline that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-warren/i-don-t-like-credit-cards-let-me-triple-underline-that/) [Elizabeth Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-warren/) > [I'm young. You can't just sit there and be satisfied. People are like, "You've got all these number ones!" "Yeah...what else?" It all translates…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ester-dean/i-m-young-you-can-t-just-sit-there-and-be-satisfied-people-are-like/) [Ester Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ester-dean/) > [Gratitude is like credit; it is the backbone of our relations; frequently we pay our debts not because equity demands that we should, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/gratitude-is-like-credit-it-is-the-backbone-of-our-relations/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [Yes is like credit, No is like cash.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-j-langenhoven/yes-is-like-credit-no-is-like-cash/) [C.J. Langenhoven](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-j-langenhoven/) > [We would much rather blame nature for what we don't like in ourselves than credit it for what we do like.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frans-de-waal/we-would-much-rather-blame-nature-for-what-we-don-t-like-in-ourselves/) [Frans de Waal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frans-de-waal/) > [Everything will have a Yelp review. And if you're a worker, there will be like credit scores. There already are to some extent. How…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tyler-cowen/everything-will-have-a-yelp-review-and-if-you-re-a-worker-there-will/) [Tyler Cowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tyler-cowen/) > [Knives are like credit cards; don't leave home without 'em and always carry several](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-marcinko/knives-are-like-credit-cards-don-t-leave-home-without-em-and-always/) [Richard Marcinko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-marcinko/) > [My success, I feel like, is credit - credit for a good job. I haven't even gotten a Grammy, yet I've already decided I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ester-dean/my-success-i-feel-like-is-credit-credit-for-a-good-job-i-haven-t-even/) [Ester Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ester-dean/) > [Girlfriends are like credit cards, you can't get one unless you already have one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/girlfriends-are-like-credit-cards-you-can-t-get-one-unless-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Just like credit card companies, or those student loan people. Now there's evil for you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-butcher/just-like-credit-card-companies-or-those-student-loan-people-now/) [Jim Butcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-butcher/) > [I like to take credit for the work that I have done.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-williams/i-like-to-take-credit-for-the-work-that-i-have-done/) [Jesse Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-williams/) > [Our life is like a credit or a loan that we have to repay to the one whom we don't know..don't know where, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raghav-singh/our-life-is-like-a-credit-or-a-loan-that-we-have-to-repay-to-the-one/) [Raghav Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raghav-singh/) > [I would not like to take credit for all the hard work that I have put in. It's all because of the Almighty. Whatever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guru-randhawa/i-would-not-like-to-take-credit-for-all-the-hard-work-that-i-have-put/) [Guru Randhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guru-randhawa/) ## More by Elbert Hubbard > [The teacher is one who makes two ideas grow where only one grew before.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/the-teacher-is-one-who-makes-two-ideas-grow-where-only-one-grew-before/) [Elbert Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbert-hubbard/) > [The highest reward that God gives us for good work is the ability to do better](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/the-highest-reward-that-god-gives-us-for-good-work-is-the-ability-to/) [Elbert Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbert-hubbard/) > [Art is nothing; it's a way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/art-is-nothing-it-s-a-way/) [Elbert Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbert-hubbard/) > [Library: A place where the dead lie.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/library-a-place-where-the-dead-lie/) [Elbert Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbert-hubbard/) > [“If we cannot be happy and powerful and prey on others, we invent conscience and prey on ourselves.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/if-we-cannot-be-happy-and-powerful-and-prey-on-others-we-invent/) [Elbert Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbert-hubbard/) > [The poor and ignorant will continue to lie and steal as long as the rich and educated show them how.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/the-poor-and-ignorant-will-continue-to-lie-and-steal-as-long-as-the/) [Elbert Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbert-hubbard/) > [So long as governments set the example of killing their enemies, private individuals will occasionally kill theirs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/so-long-as-governments-set-the-example-of-killing-their-enemies/) [Elbert Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbert-hubbard/) > [If I supply you with a thought, you may remember it and you may not. But if I can make you think a thought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/if-i-supply-you-with-a-thought-you-may-remember-it-and-you-may-not/) [Elbert Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbert-hubbard/) > [1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 A conservative is a man who is too cowardly to fight and too fat to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/1-2-3-4-5-a-conservative-is-a-man-who-is-too-cowardly-to-fight-and/) [Elbert Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbert-hubbard/) > [The great man is not so great as folks think, and the dull man is not quite so stupid as he seems. 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I know nobody's going to believe this, but I'd rather be able to score goals and nobody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bradley-wright-phillips/i-don-t-really-like-too-much-credit-i-know-nobody-s-going-to-believe/) [Bradley Wright-Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bradley-wright-phillips/) > [Forget the credit, they (male actors) take all the money as well. We don't get paid even one-third of what male actors get. 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I want to life off the credit of beating the best guys in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-hooker/i-don-t-want-to-live-off-the-credit-of-taking-fights-i-want-to-life/) [Dan Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-hooker/) > [The laws keep up their credit, not by being just, but because they are laws; 'tis the mystic foundation of their authority; they have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/the-laws-keep-up-their-credit-not-by-being-just-but-because-they-are/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [I never bothered about keeping track.Every now and then someone records one of my songs, and I get credit for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mose-allison/i-never-bothered-about-keeping-track-every-now-and-then-someone/) [Mose Allison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mose-allison/) [Browse all 2,736 Credit quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/credit/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Friendship, like credit, is highest when it is not used.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elbert Hubbard" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/friendship-like-credit-is-highest-when-it-is-not-used/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Credit" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/friendship-like-credit-is-highest-when-it-is-not-used/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a71/elbert-hubbard-510_credit_friendship-like-credit-is-highest-when-i_3179104.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a71/elbert-hubbard-510_credit_friendship-like-credit-is-highest-when-i_3179104.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a71/elbert-hubbard-510_credit_friendship-like-credit-is-highest-when-i_3179104.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Friendship, like credit, is highest when it is not used.” — Elbert Hubbard", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Elbert Hubbard", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbert-hubbard/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Friendship, like credit, is highest when...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/friendship-like-credit-is-highest-when-it-is-not-used/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/friendship-like-credit-is-highest-when-it-is-not-used/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```