“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”
The quote "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer." is famous quote attributed to Sun Tzu (-543–-495 BC), ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty.
This has often been attributed to Sun Tzu and sometimes to Petrarch. It comes most directly from a line spoken by Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974), written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola:
My father taught me many things here. He taught me in this room. He taught me: keep your friends close but your enemies closer.
Niccolò Machiavelli, who is also sometimes credited, wrote on the subject in The Prince:
It is easier for the prince to make friends of those men who were contented under the former government, and are therefore his enemies, than of those who, being discontented with it, were favourable to him and encouraged him to seize it.
Misattributed
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Sun Tzu 68
ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosophe… -543–-495 BCRelated quotes
“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”
Machiavelli commented on the relative ease of gaining favor from friends and enemies in Chapter 20 of The Prince, quoted above. However, this particular wording comes from a line spoken by Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974), written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola:
My father taught me many things here. He taught me in this room. He taught me: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.
Misattributed
Source: The Goblin Quest Series, Goblin Hero (2007), Chapter 7 (p. 117)
Source: City of Fallen Angels
“Watch for phonies, keep your enemies close nigga watch your homies”
“Your Worst Enemy Could Be Your Best Friend && Your Best Friend Your Worst Enemy”
“Count me not your friend but the enemy of your enemies.”
Source: Lyonesse Trilogy (1983-1989), The Green Pearl (1985), Chapter 8, section 3 (p. 480)