Enemies have always played a significant role in shaping stories, history, and personal growth. Their presence often brings out powerful emotions and thought-provoking insights. In this collection, we've gathered the top 55 best enemy quotes that capture the complexity of rivalry, conflict, and resilience. Whether you’re looking for inspiration, reflection, or simply a fresh perspective, these quotes offer a deeper understanding of what it means to face opposition.
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. “In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them.... I destroy them.” - Orson Scott Card
3. “I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe; I told it not, my wrath did grow.And I water'd it in fears, Night & morning with my tears; And I sunnéd it with smiles And with soft deceitful wiles. And it grew both day and night, Till it bore an apple bright; And my foe beheld it shine, And he knew that it was mine, And into my garden stole, When the night had veil'd the pole: In the morning glad I see My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree.” - William Blake
4. “Give me honorable enemies rather than ambitious ones, and I'll sleep more easily by night.” - George R.R. Martin
5. “Love your enemy.It will not only puzzle him,But finally illumine him.” - Sri Chinmoy
6. “To have a traitor for an ally is to have an enemy in waiting” - Jacqueline Carey
7. “I suppose [...] that the most convincing way to fool an enemy would be to fool a friend.” - Anne Bishop
8. “Tis best to weigh the enemy more mighty than he seems.” - William Shakespeare
9. “Feeling of hatred unto your enemy, drains your energy as enemy wanted.” - Toba Beta
10. “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
11. “When two wise men are blaming one another,then time has come for you to be the third one.” - Toba Beta
12. “If you're confused about what to do,it's a sign that your enemy is winning.” - Toba Beta
13. “That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn't even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn't even an enemy you could put your finger on.” - Margaret Atwood
14. “Friendship's enemy is betrayal.” - Toba Beta
15. “There's a moment in fighting when strength of muscle ain't everything because enemy has already given you enough energy to gain the victory.” - Toba Beta
16. “When you know your enemy is invincible,run and hide, or may do business with him.” - Toba Beta
17. “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
18. “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
19. “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
20. “When you begin to see that your enemy is suffering, that is the beginning of insight.” - Thich Nhat Hanh
21. “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
22. “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
23. “A dead man is the worst enemy alive, I thought. You can't alter his power over you. You can't alter what you love or owe. And it's too late to ask him for his absolution. He has beaten you all ways.” - John le Carré
24. “I respect those who don't secretly hate me.” - Toba Beta
25. “The difference between a friend and an enemy is friendliness.” - Frank Delaney
26. “Never slay your enemies!Take advantage of them all!” - Toba Beta
27. “Slowly we became silent, and silence itself if an enemy to friendship.” - Norman Maclean
28. “The unseen enemy is always the most fearsome.” - George R.R. Martin
29. “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
30. “If you truly want to know a person, talk to their enemies.” - Jamie Leanne Gaines
31. “The enemy is the tyranny of the dull mind.” - Tom Robbins
32. “Maxim 9: Never turn your back on an enemy.-The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries” - Howard Tayler
33. “If the enemy of my enemy is my friend, then a friend of my enemy, is my enemy.” - Pyreglide
34. “It's far easier to forgive an enemy after you've got even with him.” - Olin Miller
35. “It’s the enemy of your enemy who is your friend Sophie, not the friend of your friend.” - Somi Ekhasomhi
36. “If you want to strengthen an enemy and make him exult - hate him.” - Idries Shah
37. “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
38. “You cannot be betrayed by your enemies, only your friends.” - Brian D. Anderson
39. “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
40. “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
41. “Routine is the one thing the can get you killed. It tells the enemy where you're going and when you're going to be there.” - Anthony Horowitz
42. “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
43. “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there.” - John Knowles
44. “When unlimited and unrestricted by individual rights a government is men's deadliest enemy.” - Ayn Rand
45. “You will never see things as they are; you will only see things as you are.” - Shannon L. Alder
46. “Considering the notion that the spiritual battlefield is infinitely greater than the physical, perhaps God is more willing to bless with a sort of divine ecstasy those who see the devil as the enemy rather than those who see other people as the enemies.” - Criss Jami
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. “In such a beast as this..." (he means the army)"...it was the collective power that went, collapsing like a long-exhausted animal, at once falling under its own weight as much as that of its enemy. It was a collective death and not a matter of bravery or even strength, and once it was down it was finished as a battle.” - Paul Hoffman
49. “We are all cynics now, I suppose, and even a mewling infant knows that to save a life is to make an eternal enemy.” - Paul Hoffman
50. “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
51. “Fear is the greatest enemy; the father of all suffering, and love is the only cure for humanity's great afflictions” - Bryant McGill
52. “Wish for the happiness of your enemies, for if they are happy, they are your enemy no more.” - Bryant McGill
53. “People would say bad things about you, because it is the only way their insignificant self can feel better than you.” - Dennis E. Adonis
54. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” - Dan Wells
55. “Resistance is not a peripheral opponent. Resistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self-perpetuated. resistance is the enemy within.” - Steven Pressfield
