Anthony the Great (251–357) Christian saint, monk, and hermit
Book II, Chapter 10
From St. Athanasius' Life of St. Antony
“Welcome to politics, Doctor. We don’t get to pick our allies. The best we can hope for is that we don’t despise them quite as much as our enemies.”
— Alastair Reynolds, book Terminal World
Source: Terminal World (2010), Chapter 22 (p. 417)
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Alastair Reynolds198
British novelist and astronomer 1966Related quotes
Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
Speech http://books.google.com/books?id=ftv7ks-Ehq0C&q=%22strategically+we+should+despise+all+our+enemies+while+tactically+we+should+take+them+all+seriously%22&pg=PA789#v=onepage in Moscow at the meeting of Communist and Workers Parties of Socialist Countries https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/sino-soviet-split/other/1957declaration.htm (18 November 1957)
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
We Will Not Be Terrorized (December 2015), Naturalization Ceremony speech (December 2015)
Greta Thunberg (2003) Swedish climate change activist
Source: 'Blah, blah, blah’: Greta Thunberg lambasts leaders over climate crisis, by Damian Carrington, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/28/blah-greta-thunberg-leaders-climate-crisis-co2-emissions, (28 September 2021)
Jared Diamond book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Source: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005), Chapter "The world as a polder: what does it all mean to us today?", section "Reasons for hope" (Penguin Books, 2011, pages 521-522, ISBN 978-0-241-95868-1.
“Tennis is only a sport, and we don’t intend to get involved in politics.”
Peng Shuai (1986) Chinese female tennis player (1986-)
Source: "Cross-strait tennis partners 'forced' to talk politics" in South China Morning Post https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1278632/cross-strait-tennis-partners-forced-talk-politics (9 July 2013)
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) British politician
Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1848/mar/01/treaty-of-adrianople-charges-against to the House of Commons (1 March 1848). <br class="br">1840s <br class="br">Context: I hold with respect to alliances, that England is a Power sufficiently strong, sufficiently powerful, to steer her own course, and not to tie herself as an unnecessary appendage to the policy of any other Government. I hold that the real policy of England—apart from questions which involve her own particular interests, political or commercial—is to be the champion of justice and right; pursuing that course with moderation and prudence, not becoming the Quixote of the world, but giving the weight of her moral sanction and support wherever she thinks that justice is, and wherever she thinks that wrong has been done... I say that it is a narrow policy to suppose that this country or that is to be marked out as the eternal ally or the perpetual enemy of England. We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.... And if I might be allowed to express in one sentence the principle which I think ought to guide an English Minister, I would adopt the expression of Canning, and say that with every British Minister the interests of England ought to be the shibboleth of his policy.
