quotations about enemies
If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Driftwood
Boyfriends
And girlfriends
And enemies
Those upon which we rely
LOW
"Boyfriends and Girlfriends"
We ought not to make those people our enemies who might have become our friends, if we had only known them better.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères
A man's enemies are those he should endeavor first to make his friends.
NORMAN MACDONALD
Maxims and Moral Reflections
Come to me
The enemy
GODSMACK
"The Enemy", IV
The enemy
Is gonna get me
But not today
On my horsey
MOLOKO
"On My Horsey", Do You Like My Tight Sweater?
An enemy to define ourselves
An enemy to refine our hate
DARK TRANQUILITY
"The Enemy", Damage Done
A dead man is the worst enemy alive ... You can't alter his power over you. You can't alter what you love or owe. And it's too late to ask him for his absolution. He has beaten you all ways.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
Our Game
You have enemies? Why, it is the story of every man who has done a great deed or created a new idea. It is the cloud which thunders around everything that shines. Fame must have enemies, as light must have gnats. Do no bother yourself about it; disdain. Keep your mind serene as you keep your life clear.
VICTOR HUGO
Choses Vues 1849-1885
It's great to have an enemy. Sharpens your senses.
JOHN UPDIKE
Rabbit is Rich
What joins men together ... is not the sharing of bread but the sharing of enemies.
CORMAC MCCARTHY
Blood Meridian
I like to have powerful enemies. Makes me feel important.
LEIGH BARDUGO
Siege and Storm
A conquered foe should be watched.
EDGAR WATSON HOWE
Country Town Sayings
He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare,
And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.
ALI IBN-ABI-TALIB
A Hundred Sayings
He who has his enemy's love and trust is in a far better position to attack, later, when the time is right.
K. J. PARKER
Devices and Desires
The enemy is never more unnerving than when he's invisible.
K. J. PARKER
Devices and Desires
When the inhabitants of a free city have overcome the enemy in the field, it is not easy to express the pleasure which they feel in putting their opponents to flight, as well as in pursuing and making havoc of them.
XENOPHON
Hiero
I have always paid attention to the merits of my enemies, and found it an advantage.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe
When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must not do it. There will come a time, in many instances, when the person who hates you most, the person who has misused you most, the person who has gossiped about you most, the person who has spread false rumors about you most, there will come a time when you will have an opportunity to defeat that person. It might be in terms of a recommendation for a job; it might be in terms of helping that person to make some move in life. That’s the time you must do it. That is the meaning of love. In the final analysis, love is not this sentimental something that we talk about. It’s not merely an emotional something. Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
sermon delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Nov. 17, 1957
Scratch a lover, and find a foe.
DOROTHY PARKER
"Ballads of a Great Weariness", Enough Rope