“Choose your bridge, Mr. Pip,” returned Wemmick, “and take a walk upon your bridge, and pitch your money into the Thames over the centre arch of your bridge, and you know the end of it. Serve a friend with it, and you may know the end of it too, – but it’s a less pleasant and profitable end.”
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 36. Wemmick uses a bridge metaphor to explain to Pip that helping a friend in need can have an unpleasant and unprofitable end. Pip wants to use his wealth to help his friend Herbert in starting a business.