Enemy
An enemy or foe is a relativist term for an entity, whether an individual or a group, that is seen as forcefully adverse or threatening. The concept of an enemy has been observed to be "basic for both individuals and communities". The term "enemy" serves the social function of designating a particular entity as a threat, thereby invoking an intense emotional response to that entity. The state of being or having an enemy is enmity.
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Famous quotes containing the word enemy:
“These semi-traitors [Union generals who were not hostile to slavery] must be watched.Let us be careful who become army leaders in the reorganized army at the end of this Rebellion. The man who thinks that the perpetuity of slavery is essential to the existence of the Union, is unfit to be trusted. The deadliest enemy the Union has is slaveryin fact, its only enemy.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (18221893)
“Powerful, yes, that is the word that I constantly rolled on my tongue, I dreamed of absolute power, the kind that forces others to kneel, that forces the enemy to capitulate, finally converting him, and the more the enemy is blind, cruel, sure of himself, buried in his conviction, the more his admission proclaims the royalty of he who has brought on his defeat.”
—Albert Camus (19131960)
“Anyone who is an enemy of mine, let him love women, but let he who is my friend rejoice in men.”
—Propertius Sextus (c. 5016 B.C.)