A guilty conscience is a lively enemy.
—Indian Proverb
Better a bite from a friend than a caress from an enemy.
—Danish Proverb
Some men are more beholden to their bitterest enemies than to friends who appear to be sweetness itself. The former frequently tell the truth, but the latter never.
—Cato the Elder (Marcus Porcius Cato) (234–149 BCE) Roman Statesman
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 (1304–74) Italian Scholar, Poet, Humanist
Talk well of your friends and of your enemies say nothing.
—Common Proverb
Do good to your friends to keep them, to your enemies to win them.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Pass by your enemy hungry but never naked.
—Egyptian Proverb
Only enemies speak the truth; friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty.
—Stephen King (b.1947) American Novelist, Screenwriter, Columnist, Film Director
One enemy can do more hurt than ten friends can do good.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
A close friend can become a close enemy.
—African Proverb
It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
—Buddhist Teaching
In order to have an enemy, one must be somebody.—One must be a force before he can be resisted by another force—a malicious enemy is better than a clumsy friend.
—Sophie Swetchine (1782–1857) Russian Mystic, Writer
We have met the enemy and it is us.
—Walt Kelly (1913–73) American Cartoonist
Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind. Spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavors. If it may not, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving one to another.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
Our enemies approach nearer to truth in their judgments of us than we do ourselves.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.
—African Proverb
A small debt makes a man your debtor, a large one makes him your enemy.
—Seneca the Elder (Marcus Annaeus Seneca) (c.55 BCE–c.40 CE) Roman Rhetorician
The wise learn many things from their enemies.
—Aristophanes (447–386 BCE) Greek Comic Playwright
You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist
Build a golden bridge for the fleeing enemy.
—French Proverb
Instead of loving your enemies, treat your friends a little better.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
When there is no enemy it is safe to fight.
—German Proverb
We often give our enemies the means to our own destruction.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
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.
—Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English Novelist, Scriptwriter
Treat your friend as if he will one day be your enemy, and your enemy as if he will one day be your friend.
—Unknown
Friends come and go, enemies linger.
—Unknown
Bribery is the enemy of justice.
—African Proverb
It is a pitiful fortune that is not without enemies.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
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