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)