quotations about enemies
Never speak harshly of your enemy -- when you can kick 'im in the shins instead!
STAN LEE
"Stan Lee's Soapbox", Conan the Barbarian #55, October 1975
Scratch a lover, and find a foe.
DOROTHY PARKER
"Ballads of a Great Weariness", Enough Rope
We're locked in a death grip and it's taking its toll
When our enemies are what make us whole
ANDREW BIRD
"Archipelago", My Finest Work Yet
In reality, there are no enemies; we're all souls in growth, waking up.
JAMES REDFIELD
The Tenth Insight: Holding the Vision
Yet in one way enemies give us hope of good traits in ourselves; for since there will be enmity, those will incur it most who have strong points of character, which as much bring them against some men as close to others. So that we say in general, No enemies, no friends.
JAMES VILA BLAKE
Essays
We must give even an enemy what credit he deserves. If thus we do, then whether we blame or excuse, it will be clear that we are looking at the wrong, not blinded by hatred of the person. This will gain credit for what we say. To this kind of high and self-contained justice, enemies may help us more directly than friends, perhaps, because it is so easy to commend the friend for love's sake, but a harder and higher virtue to excuse the enemy for justice's sake.
JAMES VILA BLAKE
Essays
The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.
G. K. CHESTERTON
Illustrated London News, Jul. 16, 1910
How much reverence has a noble man for his enemies!--and such reverence is a bridge to love.--For he desires his enemy for himself, as his mark of distinction; he can endure no other enemy than one in whom there is nothing to despise and very much to honor! In contrast to this, picture "the enemy" as the man of ressentiment conceives him--and here precisely is his deed, his creation: he has conceived "the evil enemy," "the Evil One," and this in fact is his basic concept, from which he then evolves, as an afterthought and pendant, a "good one"--himself!
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
Genealogy of Morals
Grenades and bombs are exploding.
Friends are fighting furiously against foes.
One enemy pounding on another's nest,
emptying mother earth of its content.
SAMMY OKE AKOMBI
"Common Enemy", God the Artist and Other Poems
There's ways you can trust an enemy you can't always trust a friend. An enemy's never going to betray your trust.
DANIEL ABRAHAM
The Dragon's Path
It is noteworthy that in Japanese pop culture, enemies are not always villains. It is acknowledged that an enemy is simply the person fighting for the other side of the conflict and that if the story were told from his point of view, he would be the hero of the tale.
ROBIN E. BRENNER
Understanding Manga and Anime
Personal affection is a luxury you can have only after all your enemies are eliminated. Until then, everyone you love is a hostage, sapping your courage and corrupting your judgment.
ORSON SCOTT CARD
Empire
Your enemy brought out your dormant primal instincts, he lit up the primitive circuits of your brain.
E. L. DOCTOROW
Homer & Langley
Friends may come and go
but enemies accumulate.
JAYNE ANN KRENTZ
In Too Deep
It is weakness which makes us hate an enemy and seek revenge, and it is idleness that pacifies us and causes us to neglect it.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères
Every man is his greatest enemy, and, as it were, his own executioner.
SIR THOMAS BROWNE
Religio Medici
The only good enemy is a dead enemy.
LAURELL K. HAMILTON
The Killing Dance
The only point in having enemies is so you can defeat them, kill them, brush them aside ... or give them a chance to redeem themselves.
DEREK LANDY
Death Bringer
It is perilous to study too deeply the arts of the Enemy, for good or for ill.
J. R. R. TOLKIEN
The Fellowship of the Ring
An enemy is like a darkroom designed to develop you as a portrait for the next season of your life.
J. ELWOOD GATLIN, SR.
260 Gems of Wisdom, 624 Daily Confessions