“A blow from your friend is better than a kiss from your enemy.”
Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher
As quoted in Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists (2007) by James Geary, p. 118
“It is better to learn war early from friends, than late from enemies.”
— Mary Renault, book The Bull from the Sea
The Bull from the Sea (1962)
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Mary Renault31
English novelist 1905–1983Related quotes
“…but it is better to learn wisdom late than never to learn it at all.”
Arthur Conan Doyle book The Man with the Twisted Lip
Source: The Man with the Twisted Lip
“Preventing war is much better than protesting against the war. Protesting the war is too late.”
Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist
Source: Being Peace
“It is better to learn from the mistakes of others than that others should learn from you.”
Te de aliis, quam alios de te suaviu’st.
Persa, Act IV, scene 3, line 70
Variant translation: ’Tis sweeter far wisdom to gain from other’s woes, than others should learn from ours. (translation by Bonnell Thornton)
Persa (The Persian)
Ben Harper (1969) singer-songwriter and musician
Roses From my Friends
Song lyrics, The Will to Live (1997)
“It occurred to me that if my friends were loathsome, perhaps I needed to learn from my enemies.”
Orson Scott Card (1951) American science fiction novelist
Homecoming saga, Earthborn (1995)
Birds (414 BC) <br class="br">Context: Epops: You're mistaken: men of sense often learn from their enemies. Prudence is the best safeguard. This principle cannot be learned from a friend, but an enemy extorts it immediately. It is from their foes, not their friends, that cities learn the lesson of building high walls and ships of war. And this lesson saves their children, their homes, and their properties.<br>Chorus [leader]: It appears then that it will be better for us to hear what they have to say first; for one may learn something at times even from one's enemies.<br>(tr. Anon. 1812 rev. in Ramage 1864, p. 45 http://books.google.com/books?id=AoUCAAAAQAAJ&pg;=PA45)
Charles Caleb Colton (1777–1832) British priest and writer
Vol. I; CCLXXXVI
Lacon (1820)
“4833. The wise Man draws more Advantage from his Enemies, than a Fool from his Friends.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual
Compare Poor Richard's Almanack (1749) : The wise Man draws more Advantage from his Enemies, than the Fool from his Friends.
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)