A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.

Arnold H. Glasow was known primarily as a mid‑20th‑century American aphorist whose sayings circulated widely in quotation columns, calendars, and compilations of “thought for the day” material. This line belongs to that tradition of compact, moral-psychological observations about character and relationships rather than to a specific speech or public event. It reflects a postwar popular-ethics sensibility: friendship is measured less by constant agreement than by the willingness to intervene when someone is making harmful choices. The remark is typically encountered as a standalone maxim, suggesting it was crafted for general circulation rather than tied to a single documented occasion.

Glasow frames real friendship as a balance between noninterference and protective candor. A “true friend” does not obstruct your choices out of jealousy, control, or needless advice; they give you room to act and to grow. The exception—“unless you happen to be going down”—defines loyalty as moral courage: when your actions are self-destructive, unethical, or likely to end badly, a friend may “get in your way” by warning you, disagreeing, or even stopping you. The wit of the line lies in redefining obstruction as care: the friend’s resistance is not opposition to you, but opposition to your decline.