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 (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
Our greatest foes, and whom we must chiefly combat, are within.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.
—African Proverb
There is no such thing as an insignificant enemy.
—French Proverb
When envoys are sent with compliments in their mouths, it is a sign that the enemy wishes for a truce.
—Sun Tzu (fl. c.544–496 BCE) Chinese General, Military Theorist
So long as governments set the example of killing their enemies, private citizens will occasionally kill theirs.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
One enemy can do more hurt than ten friends can do good.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
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
He who seeks vengeance must dig two graves: one for his enemy and one for himself.
—Chinese Proverb
He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
It is a pitiful fortune that is not without enemies.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
Why do grandparents and grandchildren get along so well? They have the same enemy—the mother.
—Claudette Colbert (1903–1996) American Actress
If you want to make enemies, try to change something.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
A wise man profits more from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer
The worst tyrants are those which establish themselves in our own breasts.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
The wise learn many things from their enemies.
—Aristophanes (447–386 BCE) Greek Comic Playwright
Enemies’ promises were made to be broken.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy’s strategy.
—Sun Tzu (fl. c.544–496 BCE) Chinese General, Military Theorist
Even a paranoid can have enemies.
—Henry Kissinger (b.1923) American Diplomat, Academician
An army without culture is a dull-witted army, and a dull-witted army cannot defeat the enemy.
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chinese Statesman
Take no thought of who is right or wrong or who is better than. Be not for or against.
—Bruce Lee (1940–73) American Martial Artist, Actor, Philosopher
If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.
—Moshe Dayan (1915–81) Israeli Soldier, Statesman
We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next-door neighbor.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Bear patiently with a rival.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
Art hath an enemy called ignorance
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English Dramatist, Poet, Actor
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
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.
—Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–82) English Poet, Painter, Translator
The enemies of the future are always the very nicest people.
—Christopher Morley (1890–1957) American Novelist, Essayist
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
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.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist