“why do our enemies shape us more than our friends?”

— Rafik Schami

Source: The Dark Side of Love

Last update Nov. 20, 2024. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "why do our enemies shape us more than our friends?" by Rafik Schami?

Rafik Schami 1

German writer 1946

Related quotes

“The doctor's aim is to do good, even to our enemies, so much more to our friends”

Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (865–925) Persian polymath, physician, alchemist and chemist, philosopher

Islamic Science, the Scholar and Ethics http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=570, Foundation for Science Technology and Civilisation.
Context: The doctor's aim is to do good, even to our enemies, so much more to our friends, and my profession forbids us to do harm to our kindred, as it is instituted for the benefit and welfare of the human race, and God imposed on physicians the oath not to compose mortiferous remedies.

“Without enemies around us, we grow lazy. An enemy at our heels sharpens our wits, keeping us focused and alert. It is sometimes better, then, to use enemies as enemies rather than transforming them into friends or allies.”

Robert Greene book The 48 Laws of Power

Source: The 48 Laws of Power

“Our friends, the enemy.”

Pierre-Jean de Béranger (1780–1857) French poet and chansonnier

L'Opinion de ces Demoiselles, "Nos amis, nos ennemis" [Our friends, our enemies]. Expression used by the French during the truce after the capture of Sebastopol, referring to the Russians. Recorded in the London Times of that date. Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 221.

“…one enemy can do more hurt, than ten friends can do good.”

Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and poet

Journal to Stella (30 June, 1711)

“Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind, spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies.”

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer

Prayer, inscribed on the bronze memorial to Stevenson in St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland

“We read that we ought to forgive our enemies; but we do not read that we ought to forgive our friends.”

Cosimo de' Medici (1389–1464) First ruler of the Medici political dynasty

Attributed to Cosimo de' Medici, Duke of Florence, in Apothegms by Francis Bacon, (1624) No. 206

“We ought so to behave to one another as to avoid making enemies of our friends, and at the same time to make friends of our enemies.”

Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher

As quoted in Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, "Pythagoras", Sect. 23, as translated in Dictionary of Quotations http://archive.org/details/dictionaryquota02harbgoog (1906) by Thomas Benfield Harbottle, p. 320

“Go up close to your friend but do not go over to him! We should respect the enemy that is in our friend”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

“Why should we add your book to the atomic weapons arrayed against us by our enemies. Publication of your book would help our enemies.”

Vasily Grossman (1905–1964) Soviet writer and journalist who originally trained as an engineer

1960s

“3072. Thou may'st extract an Antidote out of a Viper, and Good out of an Enemy. An Enemy will tell thee more truly of thy Imperfections, than the best of Friends will adventure to do, or ourselves (being partial to ourselves)will be able to discern : And this may be apply'd as precious Balm, to heal the Wounds our Folly, or Oversight have given our Reputation, by guarding our Actions for the future. And this is far better, than to be flattered into Pride, and Carelessness.”

Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual

Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727)

“why do our enemies shape us more than our friends?”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Rafik Schami 1

Related quotes

Related topics