The only safe enemy was a headless enemy.
ROBERT E. HOWARD, "Jewels of Gwahlur," Weird Tales (1935)
What joins men together ... is not the sharing of bread but the sharing of enemies.
CORMAC MCCARTHY, Blood Meridian
Your enemy brought out your dormant primal instincts, he lit up the primitive circuits of your brain.
E. L. DOCTOROW, Homer & Langley
- Choose your enemies carefully 'cause they will define you
- Make them interesting 'cause in some ways they will mind you
- They're not there in the beginning but when your story ends
- Gonna last with you longer than your friend
It's great to have an enemy. Sharpens your senses.
JOHN UPDIKE, Rabbit is Rich
The enemy to be feared most is one who wears the face of a friend.
BRIAN HERBERT & KEVEN J. ANDERSON, Dune: House Corrino
You can calculate the worth of a man by the number of his enemies, and the importance of a work of art by the harm that is spoken of it.
GUSTAVE FLAUBERT, letter to Madame Louise Colet, Jun. 14, 1853
Our enemies ... seem always with us. The greater our hatred the more persistent the memory of them so that a truly terrible enemy becomes deathless. So that the man who has done you great injury or injustice makes himself a guest in your house forever. Perhaps only forgiveness can dislodge him.
CORMAC MCCARTHY, Cities of the Plain
Many men are loved by their enemies, and hated by their friends, and are the friends of their enemies, and the enemies of their friends.
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
We tend to become like the worst in those we oppose.
