“Flee an enemy who knows your weakness.”

—  Pierre Corneille , Polyeucte

Fuyez un ennemi qui sait votre défaut.
Néarque, act I, scene i.
Polyeucte (1642)

Original

Fuyez un ennemi qui sait votre défaut.

Polyeucte (1642)

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Pierre Corneille photo
Pierre Corneille 81
French tragedian 1606–1684

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Variant translations
If you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know others but know yourself, you win one and lose one; if you do not know others and do not know yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.
Know your enemy and know yourself, find naught in fear for 100 battles. Know yourself but not your enemy, find level of loss and victory. Know not thy enemy nor yourself, wallow in defeat every time.
Literal translation: Know [the] other, know [the] self, hundred battles without danger; not knowing [the] other but know [the] self, one win one loss; not knowing [the] other, not knowing [the] self, every battle must [be] lost.
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