The shaft1 of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle's own plumes2. We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.
Aesop (620 BC - 560 BC), The Eagle and the Arrow
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 (602 AD - 661 AD), A Hundred Sayings
Above all things, never be afraid. The enemy who forces you to retreat is himself afraid of you at that very moment.
Andre Maurois (1885 - 1967)
Observe your enemies, for they first find out your faults.
Antisthenes (445 BC - 365 BC)
A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
Baltasar Gracian
Love your enemies; for they shall tell you all your faults.
Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)
I do not regret one professional enemy I have made. Any actor who doesn't dare to make an enemy should get out of the business.
Bette Davis (1908 - 1989), The Lonely Life, 1962
The meeting of two personalities3 is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
Carl Jung (1875 - 1961)
He hasn't an enemy in the world - but all his friends hate him.
Eddie Cantor (1892 - 1964)
Never explain--your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.
Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915)
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)
At times one remains4 faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid5.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)
Rejoice not at thine enemy's fall - but don't rush to pick him up either.
Jewish Proverb
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)
Now the trumpet6 summons us again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are—but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight7 struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"—a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.
John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), Inaugural8 Adress, January 20, 1961
The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on.
Joseph Heller (1923 - 1999), Catch 22
The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries9 are insane.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910), in Christian10 Science
If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.
Moshe Dayan (1915 - 1981)
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 - 1821)
A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)
We can learn even from our enemies.
Ovid (43 BC - 17 AD), Metamorphoses
Use your enemy's hand to catch a snake.
Persian Proverb
Treat your friend as if he might become an enemy.
Publilius Syrus (~100 BC), Maxims11
Reveal not every secret you have to a friend, for how can you tell but that friend may hereafter become an enemy. And bring not all mischief12 you are able to upon an enemy, for he may one day become your friend.
Saadi (1184 - 1291)
It is hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head.
Sally Kempton
Money can't buy friends, but it can get you a better class of enemy.
Spike13 Milligan
Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate.
Thomas Jones (1892 - 1969)
