Doris Lessing on enemies

We spend our lives fighting to get people very slightly more stupid than ourselves to accept truths that the great men have always known.

I’m always astounded at the way we automatically look at what divides and separates us. We never look at what people have in common.

What’s terrible is to pretend that the second-rate is the first-rate. To pretend that you don’t need love when you do; or you like your work when you know quite well you’re capable of better.

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.

John F. Kennedy1917–1963

• Forgiveness

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow1807–1882Drift-wood. QuoteInvestigator (Aug. 19, 2019)

It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.

William Blake1757–1827Jerusalem The Emanation of The Giant Albion (c. 1803–1820), Ch. 4, plate 91, line 1

• Forgiveness
• Friendship