54 Inspiring Enemy Quotes

In our journey through life, we often encounter individuals who challenge us, bringing tension and sometimes animosity. While it might be tempting to ignore these struggles, many profound thinkers have found wisdom in the words of those who faced their adversaries head-on. We've gathered a curated collection of the top 54 Inspiring Enemy Quotes to help you find strength, insight, and perhaps a new perspective on the conflicts you experience. These quotes from famous authors, philosophers, and leaders remind us that even our enemies have something important to teach us. Dive in, and let their words empower you to rise above life's adversities.

1. “It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart: the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you.” - Mark Twain

2. “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” - J.K. Rowling

3. “An enemy, Ender Wiggin," whispered the old man. "I am your enemy, the first one you've ever had who was smarter than you. There is no teacher but the enemy. No one but the enemy will tell you what the enemy is going to do. No one but the enemy will ever teach you how to destroy and conquer. Only the enemy shows you where you are weak. Only the enemy tells you where he is strong. And the rules of the game are what you can do to him and what you can stop him from doing to you. I am your enemy from now on. From now on I am your teacher.” - Orson Scott Card

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

5. “Give me honorable enemies rather than ambitious ones, and I'll sleep more easily by night.” - George R.R. Martin

6. “I think that most people would rather face the light of a real enemy than the darkness of their imagined fears.” - Max Brooks

7. “Love your enemy.It will not only puzzle him,But finally illumine him.” - Sri Chinmoy

8. “The deeper I go into myself the more I realize that I am my own enemy.” - Floriano Martins

9. “listen, a goad's anything that provokes or incites an enemy---let me have a go: cursed deamon! you have met your end! the shivering fire awaits you! i shall spread your vile essance across this hall like... um, like margarine, a very think layer of it...---ye-es... im not sure he'll pick up on that analogy. never mind, keep going.” - Jonathan Stroud

10. “Some one dear to one can be loved with human love; but an enemy can only be loved with divine love.” - Leo Tolstoy

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

12. “Feeling of hatred unto your enemy, drains your energy as enemy wanted.” - Toba Beta

13. “If you claim to be a real friend then be real in your soul. If you claim to be fake then be an enemy instead.” - Santosh Kalwar

14. “When two wise men are blaming one another,then time has come for you to be the third one.” - Toba Beta

15. “The good enemy accompanies you on the journey,but you will never reach your destination with him.” - Toba Beta

16. “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” - Anonymous

17. “In making friends, she was wary of people who foster dependency and feed on it. She had been involved with a few--the blind attract them, and they are the enemy.” - Thomas Harris

18. “Right it is to be taught even by the enemy.” - Ovid

19. “E nevoie de un dușman ca să-i dai poporului o speranță. Cineva a spus că patriotismul e ultimul refugiu al canaliilor: cine nu are principii morale se înfășoară de obicei într-un steag, iar bastarzii fac întotdeauna apel la puritatea stirpei lor. Identitatea națională este ultima resursă a dezmoșteniților. Or, simțul identității se întemeiază pe ură, ura împotriva celui ce nu-i identic. Trebuie să cultivi ura ca patos cetățenesc. Dușmanul e prietenul popoarelor. E nevoie oricând de cineva demn de a fi urât ca să te simți justificat în propria-ți mizerie. Ura este adevărata pasiune primordială. Iubirea reprezintă o situație anormală.” - Umberto Eco

20. “Even though he's my enemy I don't know anything about him. Am I afraid to know about him? Do I want to think of him as a monster rather than a human being? (Sarsa, Basara, Vol. 13)” - Yumi Tamura

21. “Both friend and enemy reside within us. One lives by the rule of compassion, the other by the rule of hard knocks. Though potential influence of either extreme is inevitable, our actions bear witness to the one we embrace.” - T.F. Hodge

22. “When you begin to see that your enemy is suffering, that is the beginning of insight.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

23. “The Christian must treat his enemy as a brother, and requite his hostility with love. His behavior 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

24. “Christian love draws no distinction between one enemy and another, except that the more bitter our enemy's hatred, the greater his need of love. Be his enmity political or religious, he has nothing to expect from a follower of Jesus but unqualified love. In such love there is not inner discord between the private person and official capacity. In both we are disciples of Christ, or we are not Christians at all.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

25. “I respect those who don't secretly hate me.” - Toba Beta

26. “Tyrion let the eunuch help him mount. "Lord Varys," he said from the saddle, "sometimes I feel as though you are the best friend I have in King's Landing and sometimes I feel you are my worst enemy." "How odd. I think quite the same of you.” - George R.R. Martin

27. “Never slay your enemies!Take advantage of them all!” - Toba Beta

28. “Slowly we became silent, and silence itself if an enemy to friendship.” - Norman Maclean

29. “Onze boosaardige aartsvijand had de concentratieboog van een peuter die hyper was van de suiker.” - Shanna Swendson

30. “The unseen enemy is always the most fearsome.” - George R.R. Martin

31. “Stamp, your name is to be Laura. I'm sharing my name with you. I'm putting my power into you and you must do my work. Don't listen to anyone but me. You are to be my command laid on my enemy. you'll make a hole in him through which he'll drip away until he runs dry. As he drips out darkness, we'll smile together, me inside, you outside. We'll crush him between our smiles.” - Margaret Mahy

32. “You are your own worst enemy. If you can learn to stop expecting impossible perfection, in yourself and others, you may find the happiness that has always eluded you.” - Lisa Kleypas

33. “Maxim 9: Never turn your back on an enemy.-The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries” - Howard Tayler

34. “As long as we only have to lie to the enemy, it's honest enough for me.-Captain Tagon” - Howard Tayler

35. “To know your Enemy, you must become your Enemy.” - Sun Tzu

36. “If the enemy of my enemy is my friend, then a friend of my enemy, is my enemy.” - Pyreglide

37. “It's far easier to forgive an enemy after you've got even with him.” - Olin Miller

38. “If you want to strengthen an enemy and make him exult - hate him.” - Idries Shah

39. “He remembered the old Chinese proverb, sometimes ascribed to Confucius: If you sit by the river for long enough, the body of your enemy will float by.” - Salman Rushdie

40. “And this was your friend?" Cordelia raised her eyebrows. "Seems to me the only difference between your friends and your enemies is how long the stand around chatting before they shoot you.” - Lois McMaster Bujold

41. “Un prigioniero di guerra è un uomo che cerca di ucciderti, non ci riesce, dopo di che ti chiede di non ucciderlo.” - Winston Churchill

42. “You cannot be betrayed by your enemies, only your friends.” - Brian D. Anderson

43. “Nothing you do for them will harm the enemy, the real enemy, it will only draw in more support for them as a party.” - Selma Dabbagh

44. “It is always the enemy who started it, even if he was not the first to speak out, he was certainly planning it; and if he was not actually planning it, he was thinking of it; and, if he was not thinking of it, he would have thought of it.” - Elias Canetti

45. “I know it sounds foolishly old fashioned, but I'm stuck with this idea that there's something dignified and noble about facing your enemy and looking him in the eye before you thrust a saber in his heart.” - Michael Robotham

46. “Then he was sorry for the great fish... How many people will he feed?.. But are they worthy to eat him? No, of course, not. There is no one worthy of eating him from the manner of his behavior and his great dignity.” - Ernest Hemingway

47. “It was easier to deal with Tennyson when he was fighting me; but having him on my side was frightening, because now I didn't know who the enemy was.” - Neal Shusterman

48. “Now there are many, many people in the world, but relatively few with whom we interact, and even fewer who cause us problems. So when you come across such a chance for practicing patience and tolerance, you should treat it with gratitude. It is rare. Just as having unexpectedly found a treasure in your own house, you should be happy and grateful toward your enemy for providing you that precious opportunity. Because if you are ever to be successful in your practice of patience and tolerance, which are critical factors in counteracting negative emotions, it is due to your own efforts and also the opportunity provided by your enemy.” - The Dalai Lama

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

50. “Wish for the happiness of your enemies, for if they are happy, they are your enemy no more.” - Bryant McGill

51. “Time is your only enemy, it disappears very quickly and never gives you a second chance.” - Steve Douglas

52. “Men think that it is impossible for a human being to love his enemies, for enemies are hardly able to endure the sight of one another. Well, then, shut your eyes--and your enemy looks just like your neighbor.” - Søren Kierkegaard

53. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” - Dan Wells

54. “Resistance is not a peripheral opponent. Resistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self-perpetuated. resistance is the enemy within.” - Steven Pressfield