ENEMIES QUOTES V

quotations about enemies

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


He makes no friends who never made a foe.

ALFRED TENNYSON

Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir


What joins men together ... is not the sharing of bread but the sharing of enemies.

CORMAC MCCARTHY

Blood Meridian


You have enemies? Why, it is the story of every man who has done a great deed or created a new idea. It is the cloud which thunders around everything that shines. Fame must have enemies, as light must have gnats. Do no bother yourself about it; disdain. Keep your mind serene as you keep your life clear.

VICTOR HUGO

Choses Vues 1849-1885


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


I like to have powerful enemies. Makes me feel important.

LEIGH BARDUGO

Siege and Storm


The only good enemy is a dead enemy.

LAURELL K. HAMILTON

The Killing Dance


Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.

ANONYMOUS


An adversary may spur us on to great efforts to excel; for there is pain in surpassing those who love us, however it be our duty to prevail; but to exceed any one who is hostile to us will try the heart with but a general compassion, and only a tender and charitable heart--which all, indeed, ought to be.

JAMES VILA BLAKE

Essays


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


In cases of defence 'tis best to weigh
The enemy more mighty than he seems;
So the proportions of defence are fill'd;
Which of a weak and niggardly projection
Doth, like a miser, spoil his coat with scanting
A little cloth.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Henry V


Your enemy brought out your dormant primal instincts, he lit up the primitive circuits of your brain.

E. L. DOCTOROW

Homer & Langley


If you want enemies, excel others; if you want friends, let others excel you.

CHARLES CALEB COLTON

Lacon


The dread of an enemy is more killing then an enemy.

JOSEPH CARYL

An Exposition with Practical Observations Continued upon the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st Chapters of the Book of Job


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


An enemy will train us in watchfulness; for if he be wary to seize on every error and trip us, we shall be more heedful to expose nothing, and this will drive us to prudence and thoughtfulness.

JAMES VILA BLAKE

Essays


The assault of our enemies is not part of our life; it is only part of our experience; we throw it off and guard ourselves against it as against frost, storm, rain, hail, or any other of the external evils which may be expected to happen.

JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe


When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must not do it. There will come a time, in many instances, when the person who hates you most, the person who has misused you most, the person who has gossiped about you most, the person who has spread false rumors about you most, there will come a time when you will have an opportunity to defeat that person. It might be in terms of a recommendation for a job; it might be in terms of helping that person to make some move in life. That’s the time you must do it. That is the meaning of love. In the final analysis, love is not this sentimental something that we talk about. It’s not merely an emotional something. Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

sermon delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Nov. 17, 1957