“No one is to be called an enemy, all are your benefactors, and no one does you harm. You have no enemy except yourselves.”

Last update Oct. 1, 2023. History

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Francis of Assisi photo
Francis of Assisi 49
Catholic saint and founder of the Franciscan Order 1182–1226

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“That which is good for the enemy harms you, and that which is good for you harms the enemy.”

Quello che giova al nimico nuoce a te, e quel che giova a te nuoce al nimico.
Rule 1 from Machiavelli's Lord Fabrizio Colonna: libro settimo (Book 7) http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101013672561;view=1up;seq=176 (Modern Italian uses nemico instead of nimico.)
The Art of War (1520)

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“Even if you seek to harm an enemy,
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“War is possible only if you have a lot of enemies. If all the enemies get together and form one front - if you cut down the number of enemies - there would be no war.”

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“It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.”

Sun Tzu (-543–-495 BC) ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty

Variant translations
If you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know others but know yourself, you win one and lose one; if you do not know others and do not know yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.
Know your enemy and know yourself, find naught in fear for 100 battles. Know yourself but not your enemy, find level of loss and victory. Know not thy enemy nor yourself, wallow in defeat every time.
Literal translation: Know [the] other, know [the] self, hundred battles without danger; not knowing [the] other but know [the] self, one win one loss; not knowing [the] other, not knowing [the] self, every battle must [be] lost.
Source: The Art of War, Chapter III · Strategic Attack

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William G. Boykin (1948) Recipient of the Purple Heart medal

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