Real friends are those who, when you feel you've made a fool of yourself, don't feel you've done a permanent job.

This saying circulates widely in late-20th-century collections of aphorisms and “friendship” quotations, typically attributed to “Anonymous.” It appears to have been used as a light, conversational maxim rather than as a line traceable to a single speech, letter, or literary work. The phrasing suggests an origin in informal Anglo-American humor—something suited to greeting cards, newspaper fillers, or quotation anthologies—where “real friends” are defined by their forgiving response to social embarrassment. Because no stable, citable first publication is reliably established, the most accurate context is its function as a popular proverb-like observation about friendship and grace after mistakes.

The quote defines “real friends” by their refusal to freeze you in your worst moment. When you embarrass yourself, you may feel the mistake has permanently damaged how others see you; true friends, however, treat the incident as temporary and survivable. The humor of “don’t feel you’ve done a permanent job” underscores a compassionate stance: friendship is measured not by judgment but by generosity of interpretation and a willingness to let you grow beyond a blunder. Implicitly, it contrasts loyal companionship with relationships based on status, performance, or social perfection.