A quote for any occasion
It’s not too often that Sun Tzu , the brilliant Chinese military strategist and Al Pacino of “The Godfather” give the same wise business advice: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
This has often been attributed to Sun Tzu and sometimes to Niccolò Machiavelli or Petrarch, but there are no published sources yet found which predate its use by “Michael Corleone” in The Godfather Part II (1974), written by Mario Puzo & Francis Ford Coppola: ” My father taught me many things here — he taught me in this
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer Establish reciprocal liking. Greet with enthusiasm. Be supportive. Give the benefit of the doubt. Show appreciation. Show you’re listening. Let them in.
When your enemies are close , it’s easier for your allies to work with you. Allies are often the least helpful in analyzing your ideas. Furthermore, your allies may have just as much difficulty with your enemy as you, and that’s part of the reason you’re friends.
This phrase acts as an advice for people, especially who are in a competitive business to be mindful of their enemies to ensure that they are not doing anything untoward. This vigilance would help people overcome any strategy that might have been planned against them.
Proverb. keep your friends close , and your enemies closer . One should be on one’s toes and alert of one’s surroundings if malicious people are around, to ensure that they cannot wreak havoc in one’s life.
As it happens, the phrase “know thy enemy” isn’t in our Holy Quran, but it comes from the ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu . The full quote goes like this: “Know thy enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend is an ancient proverb which suggests that two parties can or should work together against a common enemy .
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting ” Sun Tzu.