Archive

Quotes

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

—Aesop, c. 600 BC

We die of comfort and by conflict live.

—May Sarton, 1953

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

—Willa Cather, 1915

Rivalry is the whetstone of talent.

—Roman proverb

Quarreling must lead to disorder, and disorder exhaustion.

—Xunzi, c. 250 BC

The hatred of relatives is the bitterest.

—Tacitus, 117

Enemies to me are the sauce piquant to my dish of life.

—Elsa Maxwell, 1955

Today’s friend may be tomorrow’s foe.

—Sophocles, 440 BC

For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?

—Jane Austen, 1813

Hate must make a man productive. Otherwise one might as well love.

—Karl Kraus, 1912

Perish the universe, provided I have my revenge.

—Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, 1654

Quarrels would not last long if the fault was only on one side.

—La Rochefoucauld, 1665

Revenge may be wicked, but it’s natural.

—William Makepeace Thackeray, 1847