74 quotes about Enemies

The moment at which two people, approaching from opposite ends of a long passageway, recognize each other and immediately pretend they haven t. This is to avoid the ghastly embarrassment of having to continue recognizing each other the whole length of the corridor.

Adams, Douglas

We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction.

Aesop

There once was a Bald Man who sat down after work on a hot summer's day. A Fly came up and kept buzzing about his bald pate, and stinging him from time to time. The Man aimed a blow at his little enemy, but - whack - his palm come on his own head instead; again the Fly tormented him, but this time the Man was wiser and said: YOU WILL ONLY INJURE YOURSELF IF YOU TAKE NOTICE OF DISPICABLE ENEMIES.

Aesop

Enemies promises were made to be broken.

Aesop

Observe your enemies, for they first find out your faults.

Antisthenes

Serve your enemies for they first find out your faults

Antisthenes

Pay attention to your enemies for they are the first to discover your mistakes.

Antisthenes

Wise men learn many things from their enemies.

Aristophanes

Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you. [Matthew]

Bible

When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.

Blake, William

It is difficult to say who do you the most harm: enemies with the worst intentions or friends with the best.

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward G.

If there be no enemy there's no fight. If no fight, no victory and if no victory there is no crown.

Carlyle, Thomas

Our greatest foes, and whom we must chiefly combat, are within.

Cervantes, Miguel De

We look upon the enemy of our souls as a conquered foe, so he is, but only to God, not to us.

Chambers, Oswald

The worst tyrants are those which establish themselves in our own breasts.

Channing, William Ellery

Let your enemies be disarmed by the gentleness of your manner, but at the same time let them feel, the steadiness of your resentment.

Chesterfield, Lord

Why do grandparents and grandchildren get along so well? They have the same enemy -- the mother.

Colbert, Claudette

You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends.

Conrad, Joseph

A strong foe is better than a weak friend.

Dahlberg, Edward

It is not necessary to have enemies if you go out of your way to make friends hate you.

Dane, Frank

Love your enemies just in case your friends turn out to be a bunch of bastards.

Dickson, R A

There is nothing like the sight of an old enemy down on his luck.

Euripides

I have had a lot of adversaries in my political life, but no enemies that I can remember.

Ford, Gerald R.

I have met the enemy, and it is the eyes of other people.

Franklin, Benjamin

Love your enemies, for they tell you your faults.

Franklin, Benjamin

Promises may fit the friends, but non-performance will turn them into enemies.

Franklin, Benjamin

No prudent antagonist thinks light of his adversaries.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

A wise man learns more from his enemies than a fool from his friends.

Gracian, Baltasar

I have no trouble with my enemies. I can take care of my enemies all right. But my damn friends. They're the ones that keep me walking the floor nights!

Harding, Warren Gamaliel

Enemies are so stimulating.

Hepburn, Katharine

One enemy is too much.

Herbert, George

No man should ever display his bravery unless he is prepared for battle, nor bear the marks of defiance, until he has experienced the abilities of his enemy.

Hitopadesa

If it looks like shit, smells like shit, mail it to your enemy... he'll know what to do with it.

Horton, Doug

Man's chief enemy is his own unruly nature and the dark forces put up within him.

Jones, Ernest

We have meet the enemy; and he is us.

Kelly, Walt

The enemy is more easily overcome if he be not suffered to enter the door of our hearts, but be resisted without the gate at his first knock.

Kempis, Thomas

It is hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head.

Kempton, Sally

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.

Kennedy, John F.

Only enemies speak the truth. Friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty.

King, Stephen

Even a paranoid can have enemies.

Kissinger, Henry

Our enemies come nearer the truth in the opinions they form of us than we do in our opinion of ourselves.

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

Our enemies approach nearer to truth in their judgments of us than we do ourselves.

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

Take no thought of who is right or wrong or who is better than. Be not for or against.

Lee, Bruce

The best way to destroy your enemy is to make him your friend.

Lincoln, Abraham

I don't have a warm personal enemy left. They've all died off. I miss them terribly because they helped define me.

Luce, Clare Boothe

The real enemy can always be met and conquered, or won over. Real antagonism is based on love, a love which has not recognized itself.

Miller, Henry

There is no stronger bond of friendship than a mutual enemy.

Moore, Frankfort

The enemies of the future are always the very nicest people.

Morley, Christopher

He who lives by fighting with an enemy has an interest in the preservation of the enemy's life.

Nietzsche, Friedrich

Bear patiently with a rival.

Ovid

Five enemies of peace inhabit with us -- avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.

Petrarch, Francesco

Man has no greater enemy than himself.

Petrarch, Francesco

Talk well of your friends and of your enemies say nothing.

Proverb

When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.

Proverb, African

The fire you kindle for your enemy often burns yourself more than him.

Proverb, Chinese

False friends are worst than bitter enemies.

Proverb, Scottish

Who are enemies? Those who oppose each others will.

Richards, Mary Caroline

Was it a friend or foe that spread these lies? Nay, who but infants question in such wise, 'twas one of my most intimate enemies.

Rossetti, Dante Gabriel

Remember, to them it is us who are the enemy.

Simpson, N. F.

Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us.

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon

Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind, spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies.

Stevenson, Robert Louis

Convince an enemy, convince him that he's wrong. To win a bloodless battle, the victory is long. A simple act of faith, reason over might. To blow up his children would only prove him right.

Sumner, Gordon

One must be a somebody before they can have a enemy. One must be a force before he can be resisted by another force.

Swetchine, Anne Sophie

One enemy can do more hurt than ten friends can do good.

Swift, Jonathan

It is a pitiful fortune that is not without enemies.

Syrus, Publilius

It pays to know the enemy -- not least because at some time you may have the opportunity to turn him into a friend.

Thatcher, Margaret

Speak well of your enemies... you made them.

Unknown, Source

One reason we should love our enemies is that we made them ourselves. Another reason is that they keep us on our toes, a third reason is that we should make them our friends.

Unknown, Source

A person is his own worst enemy.

Unknown, Source

If thine enemy offend thee, give his child a drum.

Unknown, Source

In my life, I have prayed but one prayer: oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it.

Voltaire

I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends.

Whitman, Walt

A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

Wilde, Oscar

The person who builds a character makes foes.

Young