Archive

Quotes

All our enemies are mortal.

—Paul Valéry, 1942

Rivalry is the whetstone of talent.

—Roman proverb

Put national causes first and personal grudges last.

—Sima Qian, c. 91 BC

I tell you, there is such a thing as creative hate!

—Willa Cather, 1915

We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction.

—Aesop, c. 600 BC

It is very foolish to attack one’s enemy openly if one can injure him in secret.

—Giambattista Giraldi, 1543

One of the most time-consuming things is to have an enemy.

—E.B. White, 1977

An injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.

—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 1746

From hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.

—Herman Melville, 1851

To outwit an enemy is not only just and glorious but profitable and sweet.

—Plutarch, c. 100

Enemies are so stimulating.

—Katharine Hepburn, 1969

Hoping for new friendship from old enemies is / Like expecting to find a rose in a furnace.

—Muhammad Baqir Najm-i Sani, 1612

Many need no other provocation to enmity than that they find themselves excelled.

—Samuel Johnson, 1751