116 Quotes About Enemies

In life, we encounter a diverse array of individuals, and not all become friends. Some, inevitably, fall into the category of enemies. While it may seem daunting, these adversaries often offer profound insights and unique perspectives that can shape our journey in unexpected ways. To navigate the complexities and emotions tied to such relationships, we’ve curated a collection of the top 116 quotes about enemies. These quotes span a range of sentiments and wisdom from historical figures, philosophers, and modern thinkers, providing you with insights, solace, and perhaps even a touch of humor as you reflect on the nature of enmity. Dive in and explore these powerful words to gain a deeper understanding of your challengers—and yourself.

1. “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” - Napoleon Bonaparte

2. “Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” - Oscar Wilde

3. “I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects.” - Oscar Wilde

4. “Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy.” - Frank Sinatra

5. “Never explain―your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.” - Elbert Hubbard

6. “Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe.” - William Shakespeare

7. “Don't flatter yourself that friendship authorizes you to say disagreeable things to your intimates. The nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary do tact and courtesy become. Except in cases of necessity, which are rare, leave your friend to learn unpleasant things from his enemies; they are ready enough to tell them.” - Oliver Wendall Holmes

8. “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” - Abraham Lincoln

9. “A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.” - Baltasar Gracian

10. “Now, now my good man, this is no time to be making enemies."(Voltaire on his deathbed in response to a priest asking him that he renounce Satan.)” - Voltaire

11. “The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

12. “Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love.” - Mahatma Gandhi

13. “It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.” - Mahatma Gandhi

14. “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.” - G.K. Chesterton

15. “If we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies, or capitalists for the same reasons.” - C.S. Lewis

16. “I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt

17. “I can be on guard against my enemies, but God deliver me from my friends!” - Charlotte Brontë

18. “A man with no enemies is a man with no character.” - Paul Newman

19. “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

20. “No man ever got very high by pulling other people down. The intelligent merchant does not knock his competitors. The sensible worker does not work those who work with him. Don't knock your friends. Don't knock your enemies. Don't knock yourself.” - Alfred Lord Tennyson

21. “A true man loves his enemies as much he loves his friends.” - Santosh Kalwar

22. “My enemies are worms, cool days, and most of all woodchucks.” - Henry David Thoreau

23. “Home is anywhere that you know all your friends and all your enemies.” - Orson Scott Card

24. “Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies. (from "Loving Your Enemies")” - Martin Luther King Jr.

25. “How many of us have conflicts with someone else- and how many of us pray for that person? We have individuals with whom we are competitive, or whom we dislike or have a quarrel with; but very few of us have true enemies in the martial sense. And yet if Lincoln could pray fervently- and contemporary reports indicate he did- for the people who were opposing him, how much more can we do for someone we just find a little irritating?” - John Wooden

26. “In order to know your enemy, you must become your enemy.” - Chris Bradford

27. “Enemies are people who's story you haven't heard, or who's face you haven't seen.” - Irene Butter

28. “I have no enemies. I dont permit such a thing. ” - Cormac McCarthy

29. “Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the Cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commission, his work. 'The kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared' (Luther).” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

30. “An enemy generally says and believes what he wishes.” - Thomas Jefferson

31. “Friends may come and go but enemies accumulate.” - Jayne Ann Krentz

32. “The life of the enemy . Whoever lives for the sake of combating an enemy has an interest in the enemy's staying alive.” - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

33. “He will never have true friends who is afraid of making enemies.” - William Hazlitt

34. “Memo to extreme partisans: If you can't bring yourselves to love your enemies, can you at least learn to hate your friends?” - Walter Kirn

35. “I smile to myself knowing that they may be dead.” - Emilie Autumn

36. “As he grew older, which was mostly in my absence, my firstborn son, Alexander, became ever more humorous and courageous. There came a time, as the confrontation with the enemies of our civilization became more acute, when he sent off various applications to enlist in the armed forces. I didn't want to be involved in this decision either way, especially since I was being regularly taunted for not having 'sent' any of my children to fight in the wars of resistance that I supported. (As if I could 'send' anybody, let alone a grown-up and tough and smart young man: what moral imbeciles the 'anti-war' people have become.)” - Christopher Hitchens

37. “Regarding vengeance and arch-enemies, one must not only be timely but prideful, and pride exacts propriety.” - Adam Levin

38. “Meg and Belch only had eyes for each other. Not in the usual romantic sense.” - Eoin Colfer

39. “You never walk alone. Even the devil is the lord of flies.” - Gilles Deleuze

40. “The truth may not set you free, but used carefully, it can confuse the hell out of your enemies.” - Laurell K. Hamilton

41. “Tis best to weigh the enemy more mighty than he seems.” - William Shakespeare

42. “There is nothing more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends.” - Homer

43. “If people think nature is their friend then they sure don't need an enemy.” - Kurt Vonnegut

44. “It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.” - Siddhārtha Gautama

45. “I am often thought of as being remarkably bright, and yet my brains, more often than not, are busily devising new and interesting ways of bringing my enemies to sudden, gagging, writhing, agonizing death.” - Alan Bradley

46. “Show no fear to your enemies. Only contempt. Never let anyone look down on you. You're just as good as any of them. I don't care who they are. Better in fact. In our world, Dagans are royalty and you, my son, are a prince.” - Sherrilyn Kenyon

47. “one day my best friend said to me 'Jess, you rock a lot of polka dots' and that was the deal breaker, now we're mortal enemies” - Zooey Deschanel

48. “After long enough, everyone in the world will be you enemy.” - Chuck Palahniuk

49. “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner. -Nelson Mandela, activist, South African president, Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1918)” - Nelson Mandela

50. “His mom always said that trust was something you earned. And it wasn't something you gave easy. Too often, it was a tool your enemies used to hurt you with. 'Give them nothing, baby. Not until you have no choice. The world is harsh and it is cold. People can be good and decent, but most of them are only out for themselves and they'll hurt anyone they can'.” - Sherrilyn Kenyon

51. “Only people who're positive enough to have friends have enemies. When you're as glum and morose as he was, people just give up and go away.” - Ellis Peters

52. “That's ridiculous. 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

53. “It's not about going around trying to stir up trouble. As long as you're honest and you articulate what you believe to be true, somebody somewhere will become your enemy whether you like it or not.” - Criss Jami

54. “The Master: The cosmos without the Doctor scarcely bears thinking about.” - Terrance Dicks

55. “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

56. “Friends never turn as enemies. If they did, they were never your friends at all.” - Hark Herald Sarmiento

57. “I am not, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, a good-natured man; that is, many things annoy me besides what interferes with my own ease and interest. I hate a lie; a piece of injustice wounds me to the quick, though nothing but the report of it reach me. Therefore I have made many enemies and few friends; for the public know nothing of well-wishers, and keep a wary eye on those who would reform them.” - William Hazlitt

58. “Want to keep Christ in Christmas? Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive the guilty, welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, love your enemies, and do unto others as you would have done unto you.” - Steve Maraboli

59. “Both teachers and learners go to sleep at their post as soon as there is no enemy in the field.” - John Stuart Mill

60. “He had been dazzled. Because of the dazzling brightness, he had had to kill [Seigen]. All who had encountered Seigen had had their hearts stolen by that brightness. That envy had turned to malice.” - Takayuki Yamaguchi

61. “Why is it considered so glorious to kill an enemy, when it is not considered contemptible to create one?” - Anne E.G. Nydam

62. “He’d never really given religion much thought himself. It was just there, one of the basic fundamentals of life and living; Heaven is generally good and one should aspire to end up there, and Hell is decidedly foul and one should generally direct their enemies there.” - T. A. Miles

63. “It is a good man who stands up for his friends, but an honorable man who stands up for his enemies.” - Violet Haberdasher

64. “Revenge in the hands of your enemies is a loaded gun. You can beg them for mercy, wave the white flag of surrender, but the only true elixir for the vitriol they bestow is a measure of hatred dispensed of your own.” - Addison Moore

65. “This new war, like the previous one, would be a test of the power of machines against people and places; whatever its causes and justifications, it would make the world worse. This was true of that new war, and it has been true of every new war since...I knew too that this new war was not even new but was only the old one come again. And what caused it? It was caused, I thought, by people failing to love one another, failing to love their enemies.” - Wendell Berry

66. “A man falling off a cliff to certain death will stretch out a hand even to his worst enemy.” - Robert Jordan

67. “These three ladies disliked and distrusted one another as heartily as the First Triumvirate of Rome, and their close alliance was probably for the same reason.” - Margaret Mitchell

68. “To be successful you need friends and to be very successful you need enemies.” - Sidney Sheldon

69. “Air traffic control is going to have a steamy old fit on your dime, boy.They can get in line behind the police, the people whose cars we trashed, the Empire of Ob'enn, the Partnership Collective, and the Wormgate Corporation. Oh, and I think maybe some dark matter beasties from Andromeda.You "think maybe"?-General Tagon & Captain Andreyasn” - Howard Tayler

70. “The way you blunder from one catastrophe to the next, it's a wonder the whole galaxy doesn't hate you.The galaxy is a big place, General. You provincial military types don't get far enough out to really see that.-General Tagon & Captain Kevyn Andreyasn” - Howard Tayler

71. “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

72. “At this hourLie at my mercy all mine enemies.” - William Shakespeare

73. “Hate is your enemy; you must defeat it! Anger is your enemy; you must defeat it! Violence is your enemy; you must defeat it! Death is your enemy; you must defeat it! Know well your real enemies!” - Mehmet Murat ildan

74. “If you want to find the real competition, just look in the mirror. After awhile you'll see your rivals scrambling for second place.” - Criss Jami

75. “There are two things in life you cannot choose. The first is your enemies; the second your family. Sometimes the difference between them is hard to see, but in the end time will show you that the cards you have been dealt could always have been worse.” - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

76. “Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.” - Benjamin Franklin

77. “Know me, Amber. I am Amelia Hoffman, and that," I said emphatically, gesturing towards them, "is my family. And if you or anyone does anything to harm them, I will turn the wrath of the Earth Mother on you. I will turn this entire town into a desert waste if I have to, but I will protect my family. If that makes us enemies, then I will weep for you when you are dead.” - Elizabeth Sharp

78. “بدلاً من أن نمقت أعدائنا ينبغي أن نشفق عليهم، وأن نحمد الله عز وجل على أنه لم يخلقنا مثلهم.” - كلارنس وارد

79. “Wrong. Enemies don't fight with such determined passion. That kind of focus is reserved for friends at odds with one another."pg 69 Tomas to Vlad” - Heather Brewer

80. “The essence of fascism is to make laws forbidding everything and then enforce them selectively against your enemies.” - John Lescroart

81. “My father said to remember your enemies as well as your friends, and don't trust either of them.” - Steven Herrick

82. “Never get close to your enemies, you might start liking them.” - Cristian L. Martinez

83. “Unless people are prepared to declare themselves your enemies you have to hunt around for them.” - Auberon Waugh

84. “May peace rule the universe; may peace rule in kingdoms and empires; may peace rule in states and in the lands of the potentates; may peace rule in the house of friends and may peace also rule in the house of enemies.” - Virchand Raghavji Gandhi

85. “The will of God, to which the law gives expression, is that men should defeat their enemies by loving them.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

86. “You know what, Michael? I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship of loathing.” - Meinos Kaen

87. “Never annoy an inspirational author or you will become the poison in her pen and the villian in every one of her books.” - Shannon L. Alder

88. “I’m not a Knight. I’m a Bishop. Or at least I am trying to be. And traveling with you is the most slantwise, backward thing I can possibly think of, which in this place probably means it’s the right thing to do.” - Catherynne M. Valente

89. “I didn’t answer. We were not buddies. We could not chat about the proximity of our offices, or football, or forgiveness.” - Kimberly Novosel

90. “If you don't make enemies, you're just not trying.” - Shannon A. Hiner

91. “You will have many enemies, but even your foes will love you. Life will bring you many misfortunes, but you will find your happiness in them, and will bless life and will make others bless it--which is what matters most.” - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

92. “I cannot encourage any fabrication even for the sake of making people feel good. If I were to fabricate consciously and knowingly, I would not only be ordaining myself their enemy, but also ordaining myself God's enemy.” - Criss Jami

93. “After an awkward pause, Bast extended his hand. Chronicler hesitated for a bare moment before reaching out quickly, as if he were sticking his hand into a fire. Nothing happened, both of them seemed moderately surprised."Amazing, isn't it?" Kvothe addressed them bitingly. "Five fingers and flesh with blood beneath. One could almost believe that on the other end of that hand lay a person of some sort.” - Patrick Rothfuss

94. “Words can be powerful allies. Or enemies” - Yasmine Galenorn

95. “Some allies are more dangerous than enemies.” - George R.R. Martin

96. “In the New Testament our enemies are those who harbour hostility against us, not those against whom we cherish hostility, for Jesus refuses to reckon with such a possibility. The Christian must treat his enemy as a brother, and requite his hostility with love. His behaviour must be determined not by the way others treat him, but by the treatment he himself receives from Jesus; it has only one source, and that is the will of Jesus.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

97. “It’s sad when friends become enemies. But what’s even worse is when they become strangers.” - Hayley Williams

98. “If you have enemies, good that means you stood up for something.” - Eminem

99. “It is not wise to think of people as either friends or enemies as if you were the center of the universe; many are not aware of your existance!” - Salman Al Odah

100. “Choose your friends carefully but don’t worry about your enemies, they will choose you” - Carl Henegan

101. “There are no saints either. We are immortal, but not so unlike the humans as you think. We have enemies, we have duties, we hate, we struggle, and we love.” - Jessica Fortunato

102. “Bitter people are not interested in what you say, but what you hide.” - Shannon L. Alder

103. “Whenever we want to combat our enemies, first and foremost we must start by understanding them rather than exaggerating their motives.” - Criss Jami

104. “So help me, if something crawls out of one of these bags, I will castrate you.” “I bet you’d love that.”-Emma and Jackson” - Rachael Wade

105. “Enemies! People these days don't have enemies! Not English people!” - Agatha Christie

106. “There are few things worse than mistaking an enemy for a friend.” - Wayne Gerard Trotman

107. “You know, maybe we don't need enemies.""Yeah, best friends aree about all I can take.” - Bill Watterson

108. “Love your enemies and hate your friends, your enemies remain the same your friends always change” - 50 cent

109. “The bottom line remains the same: you’re either awake or you’re not.One day, there it is. Nothing. No more enemies, no more battles.” - Jed McKenna

110. “Staying silent is like a slow growing cancer to the soul and a trait of a true coward. There is nothing intelligent about not standing up for yourself. You may not win every battle. However, everyone will at least know what you stood for—YOU.” - Shannon L. Alder

111. “Normally we divide the external world into that which we consider to be good or valuable, bad or worthless, or neither. Most of the time these discriminations are incorrect or have little meaning. For example, our habitual way of categorizing people as friends, enemies, and strangers depending on how they make us feel is both incorrect and a great obstacle to developing impartial love for all living beings. Rather than holding so tightly to our discriminations of the external world, it would be much more beneficial if we learned to discriminate between valuable and worthless states of mind.” - Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

112. “An idle tongue is the mother of all conflicts.” - Dennis E. Adonis

113. “The two studied one another for what seemed hours, neither saying a word. Jaden’s first inclination was to yell and demand his freedom, but something held him back. Here was a new man, and a new set of mind games. He waited for the old man to speak first and introduce himself, as Dalton had upon their first formal meeting. The stranger remained silent.” - Courtney Kirchoff

114. “But you know as well as I do that anger won’t solve anything.”“I beg to differ,” he shrugged. “Anger can be quite rewarding…at least for those of us who have the option of blasting our enemies to oblivion.” - M.A. George

115. “He finds he cannot think of the dying men at all. Into his mind instead strays the picture of More on the scaffold, seen through the veil of rain: his body, already dead, folding back neatly from the impact of the axe. The cardinal when he fell had no persecutor more relentless than Thomas More. Yet, he thinks, I did not hate him. I exercised my skills to the utmost to persuade him to reconcile with the king. And I thought I would win him, I really thought I would, for he was tenacious of the world, tenacious of his person, and had a good deal to live for. In the end he was his own murderer. He wrote and wrote and he talked and talked, then suddenly at a stroke he cancelled himself. If ever a man came close to beheading himself, Thomas More was that man.” - Hilary Mantel

116. “He looks around at his guests. All are prepared. A Latin grace; English would be his choice, but he will suit his company. Who cross themselves ostentatiously, in papist style. Who look at him, expectant. He shouts for the waiters. The doors burst open. Sweating men heave the platters to the table. It seems the meat is fresh, in fact not slaughtered yet. It is just a minor breach of etiquette. The company must sit and salivate. The Boleyns are laid at his hand to be carved.” - Hilary Mantel