I have had a lot of adversaries in my political life, but no enemies that I can remember.
—Gerald Ford (1913–2006) American Head of State
There is no such thing as an insignificant enemy.
—French Proverb
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
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
The man who ain’t got an enemy is really poor.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
Why do grandparents and grandchildren get along so well? They have the same enemy—the mother.
—Claudette Colbert (1903–1996) American Actress
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Who are enemies? Those who oppose each others will.
—M. C. Richards (1916–99) American Poet, Potter, Writer
It is not necessary to have enemies if you go out of your way to make friends hate you.
—Frank Lane (1896–1981) American Sportsperson, Businessperson
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
The enemy is within the gates; it is with our own luxury, our own folly, our own criminality that we have to contend
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.
—Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) English Theoretical Physicist, Cosmologist, Academic
There is nothing like the sight of an old enemy down on his luck.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Talk well of your friends and of your enemies say nothing.
—Common Proverb
The enemies of the future are always the very nicest people.
—Christopher Morley (1890–1957) American Novelist, Essayist
Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.
—Indian Proverb
Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
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
Our enemies come nearer the truth in the opinions they form of us than we do in our opinion of ourselves.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
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
The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue.
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chinese Statesman
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
Art hath an enemy called ignorance
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English Dramatist, Poet, Actor
An army without culture is a dull-witted army, and a dull-witted army cannot defeat the enemy.
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chinese Statesman
A person is his own worst enemy.
—Anonymous
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.
—The Hitopadesha Indian Collection of Fables
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.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer
The wise learn many things from their enemies.
—Aristophanes (447–386 BCE) Greek Comic Playwright
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: “O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous”. And God granted it.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
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
The enemy of society is middle class and the enemy of life is middle age.
—Orson Welles (1915–85) American Film Director, Actor
One that confounds good and evil is an enemy to good.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Know that you are your greatest enemy, but also your greatest friend.
—Jeremy Taylor
A wise man profits more from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer
Enemies are so stimulating.
—Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) American Actor, TV Personality
The enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
Let your enemies be disarmed by the gentleness of your manner, but at the same time let them feel, the steadiness of your resentment.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
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
Speak well of your enemies… you made them.
—Indian Proverb
He who lives by fighting with an enemy has an interest in the preservation of the enemy’s life.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
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
Who is a hero? He who turns his enemy into a friend.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
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.
—Indian Proverb
Our enemies approach nearer to truth in their judgments of us than we do ourselves.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
One enemy is too much.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don’t believe I deserved my friends.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist, American, Poet, Essayist, Journalist
If there be no enemy there’s no fight. If no fight, no victory and if no victory there is no crown.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
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!
—Warren G. Harding (1865–1923) American Head of State, Businessperson
If you want to make enemies, try to change something.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
Enemies’ promises were made to be broken.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist