Quotes about enemy (2947 quotes, page 30)

“If I am in a place where there are enemies, I become a soldier.”

Poemen (340–450) Egyptian monk and desert father

Saying 202

“To carry on the great revolutionary alliance, all organizations should conduct more self-criticisms, and conduct more investigations and studies and self-criticisms in one's own organization. This would facilitate the alliance. Otherwise, the enemy can easily exploit our weaknesses.”

Jiang Qing (1914–1991) Chinese political figure and wife of Mao Zedong

Source: Talk at the Peking Forum on Literature and Art (9 and 12 November 1967)

Study

“Do not hate anyone even at church. You should not have a permanent enemy even in politics. Do not be weighed down by hate and jealousy.”

Joice Mujuru (1955) Zimbabwean politician

Source: "Zimbabwe: 'I Have Quit Politics' - Joice Mujuru" https://allafrica.com/stories/202103090190.html, All Africa (March 9, 2021)
Context: She can actually give me advice on how to overcome the challenges.

Hate , Jealousy

“Surprise becomes effective when we suddenly face the enemy at one point with far more troops than he expected. This type of numerical superiority is quite distinct from numerical superiority in general: it is the most powerful medium in the art of war.”

Carl von Clausewitz book On War

Source: On War (1832), Book 6, Chapter 1.

War , Art

“After all, it is not a bad thing that people turn to the Communist Party, enter it seeking a way out of their predicament and approve of its policy. They are not mistaken in coming to us. We welcome them - everyone except for enemy agents, traitors, careerists and ambitious climbers.”

Liu Shaoqi (1898–1969) 2nd President of the People's Republic of China (1898-1969)

Source: "How to Be a Good Communist - 7. Examples of Wrong Ideology in the Party" https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/liu-shaoqi/1939/how-to-be/ch07.htm (July 1939)

People , Way

“You and I, we are fighting each other but we are not really enemies. By doing so we are dividing our strength, and we shall never reach our goal. Maybe the final extremity will bring us together. Maybe.”

Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) Nazi politician and Propaganda Minister

1920s
Source: Nationalsozialismus oder Bolschewismus? (National Socialism or Bolshevism), open letter to “My Friends on the Left,” Nationalsozialistische Briefe (National Socialist Letters), (Oct. 15, 1925); Joseph Gobbles, Quoted in The Devil’s Disciples, Anthony Read, W. W. Norton & Company, 2005, p. 142

Fight

“The sworn enemies of Hindu society have taken advantage of this enervation of the Hindus. They feel instinctively that threats coupled with some show of violence are sure to frighten the Hindus out of their wits, and make them yield almost anything including precious parts of their homeland.”

Sita Ram Goel (1921–2003) Indian activist

Source: Defence of Hindu Society (1983)

Feeling , Parting

“This is the real enemy, the invader from the East, the Druze, the ruffian, the oriental parasite; in a word: the Jew.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

London Morning Post, December 3, 1925
1900s

“May God have mercy on you! May God bless you! Lord, Thou knowest that I am innocent! With all my heart I forgive my enemies! Long live Christ the King!”

Miguel Pro (1891–1927) Mexican Jesuit priest and martyr

Source: Blessed Miguel Pro Juarez https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/blessed-miguel-pro-juarez-397 (November 23, 1927)

Forgiveness , God , Heart , Christ

“The first commandment of modern philosophy runs: Thou shalt emancipate thyself from all postulates. The postulate has been declared a deadly sin, and he who makes one is the enemy of truth.”

Lev Shestov (1866–1938) Russian theologian

Source: In Job's Balances: on the sources of the eternal truths, On The Philosophy of History p. 247

Truth

“When you run into the enemy, you’ve got to attack, no question about it.”

John D. Bulkeley (1911–1996) United States Navy Medal of Honor recipient

Source: "‘Sea Wolf’ Bulkeley’s European Theater Exploits Heroic" in Naval History" https://www.navalhistory.org/2015/03/19/sea-wolf-bulkeleys-european-theater-exploits-heroic (1944)

Question

“We know that threats and sanctions from the enemy have brought difficulties to the management of the country, but there are also considerable sacred, popular, economic and international capabilities that can help us overcome these challenges.”

Ebrahim Raisi (1960) Iranian president

Source: 5 August 2021, Speech after oath taking ceremony in Tehran https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/463741/Raisi-officially-takes-oath-of-office-as-Iran-s-president

Country , Help

“Georgia does not need Russia as an enemy.”

Mikheil Saakashvili (1967) Georgian-Ukrainian politician, President of Georgia and Governor of Odessa

Source: As quoted in "EU integration a key aim of Saakashvili" https://www.irishtimes.com/news/eu-integration-a-key-aim-of-saakashvili-1.1131478 (26 January 2004), Irish Times

“Round the birth of "Pickwick" broke one of those literary quarrels that were too common in the life of Dickens.... He turned people into mortal enemies whom he might have turned very easily into immortal jokes.”

G. K. Chesterton Charles Dickens

Source: Charles Dickens (1906), Ch 4 : "The Pickwick Papers"

Life , People , Birth

“An enemy that engages Israeli forces along our border and learns it unhindered will eventually find a way to circumvent it. Understanding that the line of engagement will eventually be breached has taught the”

Brig. Gen. Eran Ortal (1971)

Understanding , Learning , Way

“When the enemy isn't fighting you on his territory, you find yourself fighting him on yours.”

Brig. Gen. Eran Ortal (1971)

Source: Dado Center Journal vol. 6, January 2016, https://www.idf.il/media/11156/ortal.pdf

Fight

“Who are our enemies and who are our friends? This is the first and foremost question of a revolution and it is also the first and foremost question of the great Cultural Revolution.”

Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

1967
Directives Regarding the Cultural Revolution (1966-1972)

Question

“No plan survives the first encounter with your enemy, so why bother to make one?”

Jim C. Hines (1974) American writer

Source: The Goblin Quest Series, Goblin Hero (2007), Chapter 13 (p. 243)

“The enemy aggressor is always pursuing a course of larceny, murder, rapine, and barbarism. We are always moving forward with high mission, a destiny imposed by the Deity to regenerate our victims while incidentally capturing their markets, to civilize savage and senile and paranoidal peoples while blundering accidentally into their oil wells or metal mines.”

John Thomas Flynn (1882–1964) American journalist

Source: As We Go Marching (1944), p. 222

People

“Silly people, and there are many, not only in enemy countries, might discount the force of the United States. Some said they were soft, others that they would never be united. They would fool around at a distance. They would never come to grips. They would never stand bloodletting. Their democracy and system of recurrent elections would paralyse their war horizon to friend or foe. Now we should see the weakness of this numerous but remote, wealthy, and talkative people. But I had studied the American Civil War, fought out to the last desperate inch.”

Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War

The Second World War (1948–1953)
Source: The Grand Alliance: The Second World War, Volume 3, (1950) p. 540

Democracy , Country , Study , War

“f „I have no trouble with my enemies. I can take care of my enemies all right. But my damn friends, my god-damned friends, White, they're the ones who keep me walking the floor nights!“”

Richhommie@_1

God , Night

“You know the Devil is your enemy but you do not deal with him as such.”

Ibrahim ibn Adham (718–776) ascetic Sufi saint

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004), p. 28

“Pray for all the saints. Pray also for kings, and potentates, and princes, and for those that persecute and hate you, and for the enemies of the cross, that your fruit may be manifest to all, and that ye may be perfect in Him.”

Polycarp Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians

Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians

Hate , Perfection

“We press the enemy backward with memories, with the power of history, with scenes of sense and order.”

Jack Cady (1932–2004) American writer

Source: Kilroy Was Here (1996), p. 158

History , Memory , Sense

“Fear is a great enemy of man. It is the enemy of his progress. It disturbs his peace and harmony. It sucks or saps his vitality and energy. It drains the nervous system of its reserve of energy. It produces weakness.”

Swami Sivananda (1887–1963) Indian philosopher

Conquest of Fear (c-1960)

Fear , Peace

“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi

The Bonhoeffer Reader https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Bonhoeffer_Reader/CNZgAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA766, p. 766
Letters and Papers from Prison (1967; 1997), On Stupidity

Stupidity

“The political friend of today is the possible enemy of tomorrow. And vice versa. All those who work by a calculation of interest in politics must take that into account. Neither give your secrets to the friend nor give the adversary blows that cannot be forgotten.”

Daniel Salamanca (1863–1935) President of Bolivia (1863-1935)

Secret

“We don't have to complain about human selfishness: everyone cares about us, and even our enemies would like to correct our defects.”

Daniel Salamanca (1863–1935) President of Bolivia (1863-1935)

Selfishness

“It’s on all of us to stand up, to speak out when you see someone being abused. This is an organization that’s defined American — excuse me, defeated American enemies on land, sea, and air, and been defined by the way we treat others.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2021, February 2021, Remarks by President Biden to Department of Defense Personnel, February 10, 2021

Way , Sea

“Every Ukrainian is a target for Russians: Every woman, every child.
Those who died the other day from a Russian missile [while] trying to evacuate from Kramatorsk were not members of the presidential family, they were just Ukrainians. So the number one target for the enemy is all of us.”

Olena Zelenska (1978) Ukrainian architect and screenwriter

The number one target is all of us (2022)

Family

“Let us be practical and ask the question: How do we love our enemies?”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1950s, Loving Your Enemies (Christmas 1957)

Question , Love

“Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. That's why Jesus says, "Love your enemies." Because if you hate your enemies, you have no way to redeem and to transform your enemies. But if you love your enemies, you will discover that at the very root of love is the power of redemption. You just keep loving people and keep loving them, even though they're mistreating you. Here's the person who is a neighbor, and this person is doing something wrong to you and all of that. Just keep being friendly to that person. Keep loving them. Don't do anything to embarrass them. Just keep loving them, and they can't stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with bitterness because they're mad because you love them like that. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they'll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That's love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There's something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1950s, Loving Your Enemies (November 1957)

Personality , Madness , Thinking , Love

“In my native land waves of attachment to friends and kin surge,
Hatred for enemies rages like fire,
The darkness of stupidity, not caring what to adopt or avoid, thickens -
To abandon my native land is the practice of a bodhisattva”

Dilgo Khyentse (1910–1991) Bhutanese Buddhist Lama

The Heart of Compassion (2006)

Stupidity , Rage

“It's better if the West sees us as the enemy and imposes restrictions on us everywhere. Sanctions, sanctions and more sanctions. Then we'll rise up and develop more quickly.”

Vladimir Zhirinovsky (1946–2022) Russian politician and political activist

"Zhirinovsky: 'Europe, you shall tremble!'" in DW News https://www.dw.com/en/zhirinovsky-europe-you-shall-tremble/a-42923191 (11 March 2018)

“In these tempestuous times, we can't leave our enemies of the past and the present the monopoly on thought, imagination, and creativity.”

Thomas Sankara (1949–1987) President of Upper Volta

From a speech to the United Nations on 4 October 1984 https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2007/10/SANKARA/15203

Imagination , Time , Past

“One can make concessions to the enemy in relation, for instance, to the number of people in the government, as well as to the specific posts, qualifications and certain organisational forms accepted both by the enemy and ourselves.”

Kaysone Phomvihane (1920–1992) first General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (1955-1992)

Revolution in Laos: Practice and Prospects (1981) (excerpts)

People

“Nothing is easier - or more gratifying - than to apologise for what your ancestors, enemies or political opponents have done or omitted to do. We get the kudos for having apologised, they get the blame for what we apologise for.”

Theodore Dalrymple (1949) English doctor and writer

Migration: Multiculturalism and its Metaphors (2016)

“How does it come about that we are said to be sold to the middle class, capitalism and the Government? But already our enemies dare no longer continue this accusation, so false and ridiculous it is.”

Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) Duce and President of the Council of Ministers of Italy. Leader of the National Fascist Party and subsequen…

“Fascismo’s Interests for the Working Classes” speech delivered at Prato della Marfisia in Ferrara (4 April 1921) p. 76
1920s, Mussolini as Revealed in his Political Speeches (November 1914—August 1923) (1923)

Falseness

“Thus, it will be necessary to try and defeat the enemy in field battles. And, excuse me, with whom, and with what?! If so far not even the partial mobilisation has been carried out?! No one is giving clear answers to these questions. Simply because there aren't any.”

Igor Girkin (1970) Russian citizen from Moscow who played a significant role in the War in Donbass

"'It's meaningless to hope for victory': Top Russian ex-spy turned influencer warns Putin's offensive in Eastern Ukraine is going 'very bad', troops will suffer 'huge losses' while their leadership leaves 'much to be desired'" https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10836379/Ukraine-war-Ex-Russian-commander-says-meaningless-hope-victory-Donbas.html, Daily Mail, 20 May 2022
About the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

Question