“I don't see why I should bow my head when I could hold it high, or place it in the hands of my enemies when I can defeat them.”
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José Rizal64
Filipino writer, ophthalmologist, polyglot and nationalist 1861–1896Related quotes
“Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
His response when "accused of treating his opponents with too much courtesy and kindness, and when it was pointed out to him that his whole duty was to destroy them", as quoted in More New Testament Words (1958) by William Barclay; either this anecdote or Lincoln's reply may have been adapted from a reply attributed to Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund:<br>:* Some courtiers reproached the Emperor Sigismond that, instead of destroying his conquered foes, he admitted them to favour. “Do I not,” replied the illustrious monarch, “effectually destroy my enemies, when I make them my friends?”<br>::* "Daily Facts" in The Family Magazine Vol. IV (1837), p. 123 http://books.google.de/books?id=aW0EAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA123&dq=destroy; also quoted as simply in "Do I not effectually destroy my enemies, in making them my friends?" in The Sociable Story-teller (1846) <br class="br">Disputed
“do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”
Robert Greene book The 48 Laws of Power
Source: The 48 Laws of Power
Conor Oberst (1980) American musician
Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (2002)
Mitch Hedberg (1968–2005) American stand-up comedian
Just For Laughs: On The Edge - 2002
John Cheever (1912–1982) American novelist and short story writer
Quoted by Susan Cheever, Home before Dark Houghton Mifflin (1984).
“May I look on thee when my last hour comes; may I hold thy hand, as I sink, in my dying clasp.”
Te spectem, suprema mihi cum venerit hora,<br/>Et teneam moriens deficiente manu.
Tibullus (-50–-19 BC) poet and writer (0054-0019)
Te spectem, suprema mihi cum venerit hora,
Et teneam moriens deficiente manu.
Bk. 1, no. 1, line 59.
Variant translation: May I be looking at you when my last hour has come, and dying may I hold you with my weakening hand.
Elegies