“
Nothing is stable in the realm of power, and even closest of friends can be transformed into the worst of enemies.
”
”
Robert Greene
“
A sister is a dearest friend, a closest enemy, and an angel at the time of need.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Enemies are nothing compared to traitors, after all. It's the people you hold closest who have the most power to make you bleed.
”
”
Ally Carter
“
No one stays friends forever, Mira. Eventually those closest to us become our enemies in some way, even if it’s through well-intentioned love or apathy, or if we live long enough to become their villains.
”
”
Rebecca Yarros (Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1))
“
Fear is an enemy that can be killed only at close range. The closest range of all is intimacy. The deeper the fear is embedded in one’s spirit, the more vulnerable it is.
”
”
Andrew Vachss (Haiku)
“
Man's most dangerous enemy is the one he was once closest to.
”
”
S. Hussain Zaidi (Dongri To Dubai : Six Decades of The Mumbai Mafia)
“
Only boxers can understand the loneliness of tennis players - and yet boxers have their corner men and managers. Even a boxer's opponent provides a kind of companionship, someone he can grapple with and grunt at. In tennis you stand face-to-face with the enemy, trade blows with him, but never touch him or talk to him, or anyone else. The rules forbid a tennis player from even talking to his coach while on the court. People sometimes mention the track-and-field runner as a comparably lonely figure, but I have to laugh. At least the runner can feel and smell his opponents. They're inches away. In tennis you're on an island. Of all the games men and women play, tennis is the closest to solitary confinement....
”
”
Andre Agassi (Open)
“
The enemy fights the hardest when you are closest to your breakthrough. Know that your best days are ahead and no weapon formed will prosper.
”
”
Germany Kent
“
Above all is the centrality of love at the heart of vulnerable faith. Vulnerability will thrive only where love abounds—a love that is generous, gracious, patient, compassionate, humble, curious, joyful, and full of hope. In the absence of fear and the bondage it inflicts on us, love will put down roots, grow, and extend its reach far beyond our expectations or natural capacity. Love we once reserved only for those closest to us can be offered even to those who would persecute us. Enemies are transformed into sisters and brothers and friends.
”
”
Jamie Arpin-Ricci (Vulnerable Faith: Missional Living in the Radical Way of St. Patrick)
“
Lie to me. Tell me that I'm going to wake up and all of this is nothing but a nightmare.
”
”
Michael Taylor (Survival of the Fittest: The Last Hope for the Human Race)
“
If an organism is stuck in survival mode, its energies are focused on fighting off unseen enemies, which leaves no room for nurture, care, and love. For us humans, it means that as long as the mind is defending itself against invisible assaults, our closest bonds are threatened, along with our ability to imagine, plan, play, learn, and pay attention to other people’s needs.
”
”
Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma)
“
I’m tired of fighting myself—I have far too many enemies, far too many obstacles, to spend so much energy wrestling myself into submission. I have far too few friends to alienate those closest to me. I need to start trusting them. And if they break . . . We’ll just have to pick up the pieces together. I
”
”
Sara Raasch (Ice Like Fire (Snow Like Ashes, #2))
“
If i'm upset right now, it's becuase I've just discovered that everyone closest to me has been lying to me. Using me. Manipulating me for their own needs. My parents, are still alive, and apparently they're no better than the abusive monsters who adopted me. I have a sister being actively tortured by The Reestablishment-- and I never even knew she existed. I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that nothing is going to be the same for me, not ever again, and I have no idea who to trust or how to move forward. So yeah, right now I don't care about anything. Because I don't know what I'm fighting for anymore. And I don't know who my friends are. Right now, everyone is my enemy, including you.
”
”
Tahereh Mafi (Restore Me (Shatter Me, #4))
“
Your mind is the most powerful wonder. It can be your greatest enemy or your closest ally.
There are no limits to what you can achieve if only you believe.
”
”
Michelle Horst (The Land of Shadows (Vaalbara, #2))
“
The closest enemy ship might be your own.
”
”
Craig D. Lounsbrough
“
I was now well prepared to be a career criminal. I had the proper training and a natural feel for the business. I had a respect for the old-liners like Angelo and Don Frederico. I had been a witness to both murder and betrayal and had my appetite whetted for acts of revenge.
I just didn't have the stomach for any of it.
I didn't want my life to be a lonely and sinister on, where even the closest of friends could overnight turn into an enemy who needed to be eliminated. If I went the way Angelo had paved, I would earn millions, but would never be allowed to taste the happiness and enjoyment such wealth often brings. I would rule over a dark world, a place where treachery and deceit would be at my side and never know the simple pleasures of an ordinary life. p368.
”
”
Lorenzo Carcaterra (Gangster)
“
There is also a waka poem Akio penned for me:
Now I understand
It is all so clear to me
August wind, rain, sleet
I stopped believing in love
Until I saw the leaves fall
Poetry is kind of our thing. Originally, we were mortal enemies. Akio drove me nuts with his schedules, his overall gothic-novel vibe, and his eight inches of height over me. But now, our couple dynamic is fun-loving princess and gruff former bodyguard turned promising pilot who only shows his soft side to those closest to him. It really works for me.
”
”
Emiko Jean (Tokyo Dreaming (Tokyo Ever After, #2))
“
literature is a way in which we can learn to live deeper lives -- husband with wife, parent with child, brother with sister, fellow member with fellow member. Most good authors are better than we are. They are much better company than our own friends.
What comes from good company? What comes from good company is better manners, greater sensitivity, greater sensibility, greater empathy, great sympathy. Reading good literature makes us more capable of understanding other people, of loving other people, those whom we don't particularly want to love, even our enemies, as well as those closest to us. How can we expect to have full marriages when we are not going into those marriages with full minds and fine sensibilities? We are ignoring the tremendous possibilities of a delicate, well-poised, rich, sensitive life if we ignore the literature of the past. There is no substitute.
”
”
Arthur Henry King (Abundance of the Heart)
“
The Poet"
His teeth splayed in a way he'd notice and pity
in his closest enemies or friends.
Youth held his eye; he blinked at passing beauties,
birds of passage that could not close the gap.
His wife was high-blooded, he counted on her living--
she lived, past sixty, then lived on in him,
and often when he plotted lines, she breathed
her acrid sweetness past his imaginings.
She was still a magnificent handle of a woman--
did she have her lover as a novelist wished her?
No--hating someone nearer, she found her voice--
no wife so loved; though Hardy, home from cycling,
was glad to climb unnoticed to his study
by a circling outside staircase, his own design.
”
”
Robert Lowell
“
The people closest to you routinely catch the flak thrown off by the explosive stuff you normally work so hard to keep hidden.
”
”
Andy Stanley (Enemies of the Heart: Breaking Free from the Four Emotions That Control You)
“
You’re supposed to keep your enemies close. Therefore, it stands to reason that your sworn enemy should be kept closest.
”
”
Merry Knightly ((Self-Proclaimed) Menace To Society (The Primordial Ruins Series Book 1))
“
In other words: If an organism is stuck in survival mode, its energies are focused on fighting off unseen enemies, which leaves no room for nurture, care, and love. For us humans, it means that as long as the mind is defending itself against invisible assaults, our closest bonds are threatened, along with our ability to imagine, plan, play, learn, and pay attention to other people’s needs.
”
”
Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma)
“
The closest contact they had with the enemy was a playful sign that boasted: “Worldwide delivery in 30 minutes or less—or your next one is free.” Nuclear apocalypse was as mundane as delivering pizza.
”
”
Michael Dobbs (One Minute to Midnight)
“
I watch the bolt of his triumph sliding home. He is a connoisseur of pain. There is nothing that could cause Achilles greater anguish: being betrayed to his worst enemy, by the man he holds closest to his heart.
”
”
Madeline Miller (The Song of Achilles)
“
But what kind of adult says gay people are a bad influence on children? What if their child is gay? What if they want to...come out? If the people closest to them are their first enemies in their new, uncertain life...
”
”
Gengoroh Tagame (My Brother's Husband, Volume 2 (Otouto no Otto, #3-4))
“
Tennis is the sport in which you talk to yourself. No athletes talk to themselves like tennis players. Pitchers, golfers, goalkeepers, they mutter to themselves, of course, but tennis players talk to themselves—and answer. In the heat of a match, tennis players look like lunatics in a public square, ranting and swearing and conducting Lincoln-Douglas debates with their alter egos. Why? Because tennis is so damned lonely. Only boxers can understand the loneliness of tennis players—and yet boxers have their corner men and managers. Even a boxer’s opponent provides a kind of companionship, someone he can grapple with and grunt at. In tennis you stand face-to-face with the enemy, trade blows with him, but never touch him or talk to him, or anyone else. The rules forbid a tennis player from even talking to his coach while on the court. People sometimes mention the track-and-field runner as a comparably lonely figure, but I have to laugh. At least the runner can feel and smell his opponents. They’re inches away. In tennis you’re on an island. Of all the games men and women play, tennis is the closest to solitary confinement, which inevitably leads to self-talk, and for me the self-talk starts here in the afternoon shower. This is when I begin to say things to myself, crazy things, over and over, until I believe them. For instance, that a quasi-cripple can compete at the U.S. Open. That a thirty-six-year-old man can beat an opponent just entering his prime. I’ve won 869 matches in my career, fifth on the all-time list, and many were won during the afternoon shower.
”
”
Andre Agassi (Open)
“
FDR and most of his closest advisers believed that the aim of the New Deal was to save the capitalist system from unreconstructed capitalists. Government regulation, instead of being the enemy of capitalism, was conceived as the means of saving it by promoting employment, decent wages, education, and a cushion against the cyclical swings endemic to capitalism.
”
”
Sheldon S. Wolin (Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism - New Edition)
“
Concerning sin and our proper attitude when we find ourselves in sin. Truly, to have committed a sin is not sinful if we regret what we have done. Indeed, not for anything in time or eternity should we want to commit a sin, neither of a mortal, venial or any other kind. Whoever knows the ways of God should always be mindful of the fact that God, who is faithful and loving, has led us from a sinful life into a godly one, thus making friends of us who were previously enemies, which is a greater achievement even than making a new earth. This is one of the chief reasons why we should be wholly established in God, and it is astonishing how much this inflames us with so great and so strong a love that we strip ourselves entirely of ourselves. Indeed, if you are rightly placed in the will of God, then you should not wish that the sin into which you fell had not happened. Of course, this is not the case because sin was something against God but, precisely because it was something against God, you were bound by it to greater love, you were humbled and brought low. And you should trust God that he would not have allowed it to happen unless he intended it to be for your profit. But when we raise ourselves out of sin and turn away from it, then God in his faithfulness acts as if we had never fallen into sin at all and he does not punish us for our sins for a single moment, even if they are as great as the sum of all the sins that have ever been committed. God will not make us suffer on their account, but he can enjoy with us all the intimacy that he ever had with a creature. If he finds that we are now ready, then he does not consider what we were before. God is a God of the present. He takes you and receives you as he finds you now, not as you have been, but as you are now. God willingly endures all the harm and shame which all our sins have ever inflicted upon him, as he has already done for many years, in order that we should come to a deep knowledge of his love and in order that our love and our gratitude should increase and our zeal grow more intense, which often happens when we have repented of our sins. Therefore God willingly tolerates the hurtfulness of sin and has often done so in the past, most frequently allowing it to come upon those whom he has chosen to raise up to greatness. Now listen! Was there ever anyone dearer to or more intimate with our Lord than the apostles? And yet not one of them escaped mortal sin. They all committed mortal sin. He showed this time and again in the Old and New Testament in those individuals who were to become the closest to him by far; and even today we rarely find that people achieve great things without first going astray. And thus our Lord intends to teach us of his great mercy, urging us to great and true humility and devotion. For, when repentance is renewed, then love too is renewed and grows strong.
”
”
Meister Eckhart (Selected Writings)
“
screamed all around him. Luke tossed his empty rifle away and pulled his handgun. He fired down the trench on his own position—it was overrun with enemies. A line of them were running this way. More came sliding, falling, jumping over the wall. Where were his guys? Was anyone still alive? He killed the closest man with a shot to the face. The head exploded like a cherry tomato. He grabbed the man by his tunic and held him up as a shield. The headless man was light, and Luke was raging with adrenaline—it was if the corpse
”
”
Jack Mars (Oppose Any Foe (Luke Stone #4))
“
Basically, it was p’ch’zarni’chiwkov. This epiglottis-throttling word is seldom used on the Disc except by highly paid stunt linguists and, of course, the tiny tribe of the K’turni, who invented it. It has no direct synonym, although the Cumhoolie word “squernt” (“the feeling upon finding that the previous occupant of the privy has used all the paper”) begins to approach it in general depth of feeling. The closest translation is as follows:
the nasty little sound of a sword being unsheathed right behind one at just the point when one thought one had disposed of one’s enemies
”
”
Terry Pratchett (Equal Rites (Discworld, #3; Witches, #1))
“
A case arises for our consciousness, just as it did for primitive man, in which the two opposite attitudes towards death, one of which acknowledges it as the destroyer of life, while the other denies the reality of death, clash and come into conflict. The case is identical for both, it consists of the death of one of our loved ones, of a parent or a partner in wedlock, of a brother or a sister, of a child or a friend. These persons we love are on the one hand a part of our inner possessions and a constituent of our own selves, but on the other hand they are also in part strangers and even enemies. Except in a few instances, even the tenderest and closest love relations also contain a bit of hostility which can rouse an unconscious death wish. [...]
The layman feels an extraordinary horror at the possibility of such an emotion and takes his aversion to it as a legitimate ground for disbelief in the assertions of psychoanalysis. I think he is wrong there. No debasing of our love life is intended and none such has resulted. It is indeed foreign to our comprehension as well as to our feelings to unite love and hate in this manner, but in so far as nature employs these contrasts she brings it about that love is always kept alive and fresh in order to safeguard it against the hate that is lurking behind it. It may be said that we owe the most beautiful unfolding of our love life to the reaction against this hostile impulse which we feel in our hearts.
”
”
Sigmund Freud (Reflections on War and Death)
“
10. A wounded person might be saved but a
wounded person wouldn't heal that easily. ch 173 Pg 1999
11. s. I could hear a slight
creaking sound from Yoo Joonghyuk's body. His body was already at the
limit. Even so, Yoo Joonghyuk didn't give up. PG 2059
12. There is no magic that will heal all wounds just because
someone else has a deep wound as well. PG 2089
13. I will pull all of you down from that fucking heaven. PG 2192 CH 190
14. In a place they couldn't see, the story that was going to destroy them had
just begun PG2226
15. The most dangerous enemy is always the closest ally PG 2265
16. "Don't regard past failures as scriptures. There will be no change if you
don't do anything. PG 2299
17. Fight, fight and fight again PG2365
18.Fight, fight again and keep moving forward. It was the best mourning
possible for this guy's past. PG 2623
19. If that happens, I will destroy all the worlds that caused that Fate. PG 2676
20. "The scenario is a small destruction to prevent a greater destruction." PG 2802
21. This was Yoo Joonghyuk. He didn't give up on his goal even if he gave up his life.
22. "I felt it while living… life is supposed to be like this. There are times when nothing can be done and times when things don't work out. PG 2824
23. "I know that things don't work out well. Not everything will flow as you wish. Even so, don't dwell on it too much and let your heart lead you." PG 2827
24. In order to hold that spear, Yoo Joonghyuk trained with a single focus for decades.PG 3470
25.Don't be fooled by what you see! Believe in yourself, not the myths already recorded! Pg 3685
26.there is no good or evil. There is only our desire to see the story pg 3690
27. Are all failed stories meaningless? Even if you know you will fail, isn't the story of those who have fought to the end worth it? PG3706
28. It
was a dependable tone. I really wanted a father like this. 3719
29. Then I looked around and saw Han Sooyoung dangling her
legs while sucking candy.
I scolded Han Sooyoung, "Is it delicious?"
"Strangely, I've been craving something sweet lately. Do you want to eat?"
Han Sooyoung didn't wait for my answer and shoved the candy she was
holding into my mouth.
It had a lemon flavour. I ate the candy and Han Sooyoung looked at me
quietly. "By the way, that's what I was eating."
"So?"
"…You are really no fun." Pg 3734
30. 'Yoo Joonghyuk' of the other rounds were watching us. Some looked
envious while others had gloomy expressions. Finally, there was one with
an expression of intrigue. Pg 3747
31. Sometimes the thing that looks like a road isn't a road pg3767
32. "Kim Dokja, you know you aren't a godlike person."
I smelt lemon candy from the grumbling voice. Han Sooyoung took the
brush from my hand in a frustrated manner.
"There are some things in the world you don't know about, you idiot. pg3792
33. [I think it will be hard to just send you away.]
[What bullshit is that?]
[If you are a demon king, you should be worthy. Isn't that right? pg 3844
”
”
shing shong
“
Those closest to you can be your greatest enemies.
”
”
Cometan (The Omnidoxy)
“
Jesus had four brothers (see Matthew 13:55) who couldn’t bring themselves to believe in Him throughout His ministry. It wasn’t until after His death and resurrection that they truly believed. What kind of transition would a person have to make in his mental framework to conclude that his older brother is the Creator of the universe? The transition was so huge that his brothers almost didn’t make it. Jesus, in His mercy, helped them by appearing personally after His resurrection to the half-brother who was closest in age to Him (see 1 Corinthians 15:7). Guess who wrote these words: “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.” Jesus’ brother! James was Jesus’ younger brother (the verse above is from James 3:16). I can hear James saying, “Guys, envy almost ate me alive! Envy was such a huge issue in my heart, it almost cost me my salvation.” James was able to address the topic of envy from the authority of personal experience.
”
”
Bob Sorge (Envy: The Enemy Within)
“
Really, anyone can have a good attitude when everything is going well. We can all celebrate and be grateful when we’re on the mountaintop, but where are the people who give God praise even as the bottom falls out? Where are the people who rise up each morning and prepare for victory and increase in spite of all the news reports predicting doom and gloom? Where are the people who say, “God, I still praise You even though the medical report wasn’t good” or “God, I still thank You even though it didn’t turn out my way”?
I believe you are one of those people. I believe you are of great faith. Your roots go down deep. You could be complaining. You could be discouraged. You could have a chip on your shoulder, but instead you just keep giving God praise. You’ve got that smile on your face. You’re doing the right thing even though the wrong thing is happening.
That’s why I can tell you with confidence that you are coming into greater victories. Enlarge your vision. Take the limits off God. You have not seen your best days. God has victories in your future that will amaze you. He will show up and show out in unusual ways. You may be in a tough time right now, but remember this: The enemy always fights you the hardest when he knows God has something great in store for you.
You are closest to your victory when it is the darkest. That is the enemy’s final stand. Don’t be discouraged. Don’t start complaining. Just keep offering up that sacrifice of praise.
”
”
Joel Osteen (Every Day a Friday: How to Be Happier 7 Days a Week)
“
He casts out, so Jesus calls us to follow suit, to stop restricting our love to our inner circle: “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?”25 He calls us to love the destitute, the hated foreigner, our oppressor, and even our enemy with the same wholehearted love we currently reserve for our closest companions.
”
”
Helen Schucman (A Course in Miracles: Based on the Original Handwritten Notes of Helen Schucman—Complete & Annotated Edition)
“
I have never really understood our gene-father's obsession with martial glory. It always seemed to me more efficient to simply eradicate our foes from orbit. Pound the earth flat and build over the ashes.
And if they dig in?
There are ways. Saboteurs, chemical weapons - there are hundreds of ways of dismantling a world and its population that do not involve orbital insertions and glorious advances into the teeth of enemy fire. Perhaps I overestimate the intelligence of our species. Perhaps we are little more than psychopathic apes, driven to fashion clubs and smash out the brains of our closest neighbours.
And here I thought you were the clever one. I figured that out the day of my culling, when my family forced my cousins and me to fight for the honour of joining the Third. War as you describe it would be little more than pest control. What is there for the gods to feed on? Where is the desire for victory, the savagery, the hope and despair? Where is the entertainment?
I believe you have made my point for me.
No, you are not listening. On my pilgrimage, I learned much. Win or lose, the gods feast on our deeds. A man pets a stray, and his small pleasure in the kindness of the act feeds Slaanesh. A woman strikes her crying child, and that awful moment of elation she feels feeds Khorne. A Munitorum drone considers suicide. Nurgle grows fat on his despair. A merciful strategist devises a plan for bloodless victory, and Tzeentch is content. The Word Bearers believe the gods crave worship. But the gods care for nothing save filling their bellies with our sorrows. Intentionally or not, we are all meat for the beast. Even you, Fabius.
”
”
Josh Reynolds (Fabius Bile: The Omnibus (Fabius Bile: Warhammer 40,000))
“
I appreciated the text you sent me. I didn't even know that site existed. Riveting reading."
"Wasn't it, though? You really can get a sense about people when you hear from those closest to them."
"I couldn't agree more. In my experience, you can get a better sense by viewing them in their natural habitat." He glanced around the kitchen and dining room in my habitat.
Game on. I lowered my tone. "For a real education, you should have showed up early, Deputy Douche."
He gave a bark of laughter, drawing the attention of the whole room. "Javy, please. No need to be so formal."
"Javy," I cooed. "Best be careful." I put my hand to cover my lips away from the others, all secret-agent like. "When becoming too comfortable with your prey, you can get a false sense of security and become devoured in seconds, never to be seen again.
”
”
Kate Young (Southern Sass and a Crispy Corpse (Marygene Brown Mystery, #2))
“
Putin and his defenders abroad bragged about Russia’s rising GDP, but it was like taking the average temperature of all the patients in a hospital. According to the 2015 numbers, even after a year of Western sanctions and plunging oil prices, there are still eighty-eight Russian billionaires on the Forbes list, which still doesn’t list Putin or several of his closest cronies. I find it impossible to believe that a man like Putin who holds the power of life and death over eighty-eight billionaires is not the richest of them all. The occasional leaks about mysterious Black Sea mansions and enormous bank transfers to nowhere add more circumstantial evidence to the case that by now Putin is likely the richest man in the world.
”
”
Garry Kasparov (Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped)
“
Orion said I shouldn’t just accept getting bitten any more. If Caleb can’t catch me, he can’t bite me,” I reasoned as my heart rate picked up a notch.
“I don’t think this was what he had in mind...” Sofia frowned.
“Whatever. Caleb is the most powerful Vampire in Solaria. This is the best chance I’ve got to avoid a bite. And my headstart is going to run out if I don’t go now.”
“Class starts in ten minutes,” Darcy said half heartedly.
“Cover for me. I’ll be there!” I promised before turning and running for the exit.
I glanced back at the red couch in the centre of the room just before I ducked outside and found all four Heirs looking my way.
Caleb was saying something to the others with a smile playing around his lips. Max and Seth seemed mildly interested but Darius looked pretty damn pissed. As his heated gaze met with mine, my heart leapt a little at the anger I found there. I hadn’t spoken to him properly since we’d fought together against the Nymphs and I really wasn’t sure what I’d have to say anyway. In the moment, we’d been weirdly united. I’d saved his life and he’d saved mine. I’d even cried while he lay dying in my arms. But then Orion had appeared and healed him and the momentary insanity which had come over me, making me think I cared about him had gone in an instant. I only had to remember the way he’d tossed me into that pit to know all I needed to about him and who he was. And he was my enemy. The look he was giving me right then said he felt exactly the same.
I ducked out of The Orb and looked around quickly, wondering where the best place to hide would be. I didn’t have many options and I didn’t really have a good headstart either so I crossed the path and headed straight into Venus Library.
The librarian wasn’t at her desk as I entered and I hurriedly shot down the closest aisle, racing between texts on Fae biology before swinging left at the end.
...
“Got ya.”
Before I could respond, Caleb shot forward, lifting me into his arms and propelling me through the library with his Vampire speed until we ended up inside one of the private study rooms at the back of the building.
I gasped in surprise as he kicked the door shut behind us and pushed me back against the wall before sinking his teeth into my neck.
His grip on my waist tightened to the point of discomfort and I tried to push him back a step but he held on tight, releasing a growl.
“Ow,” I protested irritably and he finally released me with a sheepish grin.
“Sorry, I’ve been running on empty since the fight with the Nymphs and I don’t wanna bite anyone else.”
“Orion thinks I should be putting more effort into fighting you off,” I said, touching the tender skin where his teeth had pierced my skin. “I’m thinking he has a point.”
Caleb stepped forward slowly, reaching out for me and I let him. His fingers brushed against my neck and his magic slid through the wound as he healed it.
He stayed there, his hand on my skin as he held my eye.
(tory)
”
”
Caroline Peckham (The Reckoning (Zodiac Academy, #3))
“
but to bear in mind what Caesar, who had eliminated all his enemies, suffered at the hands of his closest friends.
”
”
Anthony Everitt (Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor)
“
Eventually those closest to us become our enemies in some
way, even if it’s through well-intentioned love or apathy, or if we live
long enough to become their villains.
—Page eighty, the Book of Brennan
”
”
Rebecca Yarros (Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1))
“
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ROMANS 8:38 NLT There may be something on your mind—a sin, a bad decision, someone’s rejection, or a particular trial—that makes you feel as if the Father does not or could not love you. However, once you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, nothing can separate you from His love. Not people. Not circumstances. Not angels, nor demons, nor the enemy’s entire army. Absolutely nothing. Psalm 34:18 is clear, “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” So when you feel at your most unworthy or defeated is when the Father is closest, tenderly bidding you to return to Him. The most dangerous move you can make is to resist His love. So seek His face. Confess your failings. Ask Him to teach you. Thank Him for inviting you back. Then praise His holy name and love Him in return. Lord, thank You for accepting me. I am so grateful for Your wonderful, unconditional, unchanging love. Help me hear Your voice, amen.
”
”
Charles F. Stanley (Every Day in His Presence: 365 Devotions (Devotionals from Charles F. Stanley))
“
How could someone I’d protected and called my closest friend also be my enemy? “Did you know? Did you know who my father was?” My face contorted along with my heart, horrified at the possible implications. I tried to pull back, but Reyna clasped my hands. “Please, give me a chance to explain.” More tears trickled down her cheeks. “I knew who you were. My dad told me to befriend you in order to feed him information, but I swear on my life that I never once gave him anything. They’re wretched, awful people, Valentina. That’s why I never talk about them.
”
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Jill Ramsower (Perfect Enemies (The Five Families, #6))
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Some of Nixon’s closest aides knew these taps fell into a twilight zone of the law. Nixon thought he had the power to spy on anyone he pleased on the grounds of national security. In 1968, Congress had passed a law saying the president could
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Tim Weiner (Enemies: A History of the FBI)
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Snow is both our best friend and worst enemy. Best friend because it shows us in a concrete form the paths other have taken to get where they are. Worst enemy because it will tell such tales of us if we chance upon it. I find poetry in snow that cannot be resisted. In a way, it is the closest to time travel most civilians will ever manage.
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Thomm Quackenbush (A Creature Was Stirring)
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Star shut his mouth and focused on steadying his breathing as he sailed through the pale and chilly afternoon sky. The Blue Mountains rose up in front, framing Valley Field, the home of Sun Herd’s closest enemy, Mountain Herd, and its over-stallion, Rockwing. The steeds flew him up into the mountains and through a dark cloud. The mist blinded him, and the unreasonable fear that they would bump into something gripped him.
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Jennifer Lynn Alvarez (Starfire (The Guardian Herd #1))
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Look, then, upon the modern metropolis in which people are packed together and yet remain strangers. In the subway, underground or "tube" they meet and yet never meet, experiencing the closest physical intimacy at the same time as total separation. If they make eye contact in the crowded streets they are embarrassed and hastily turn away. If one of their number falls to the pavement the rest avert their heads, fearing involvement. In solitary rooms and apartments a man or woman grieves or dies unnoticed. The rain that falls—that powerful reminder of the divine mercy—is grubby and polluted, and the drivers marooned in their stationary motor cars resist the temptation to express their rage in some act of violence. Everyone is in a hurry ("Haste comes from Satan", according to a saying of the Prophet), slaves to a busy schedule, and everyone is locked into the prison of their own problems and anxieties. They behave like enemies, so unwilling are they to meet.
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Anonymous
“
When you love yourself too much, sometimes it becomes a problem, because it gets out of control. if you don't control yourself, you become yourself closest enemy !
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Zybejta (Beta) Metani' Marashi
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Kat groped in the dark until she found the knife the man had dropped in the mud, then struggled to her feet. Her arm was bleeding, but she didn’t care. She noticed she didn’t have her flashlight anymore, but she couldn’t remember what had happened to it—and she didn’t care. Now she had a knife.
She tried to recall where the closest enemy with a gun had been, and when she remembered his last location, she grinned. She was about to take a knife to a gun fight. She only hoped he had plenty of bullets.
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James Litherland (Threat Multiplication (Slowpocalypse, #2))
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Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief. My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction,4 and my bones grow weak. Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors and an object of dread to my closest friends— those who see me on the street flee from me. I am forgotten as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery. For I hear many whispering, “Terror on every side!” They conspire against me and plot to take my life. But I trust in you, LORD; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me. Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love. Let me not be put to shame, LORD, for I have cried out to you; but let the wicked be put to shame and be silent in the realm of the dead. Let their lying lips be silenced, for with pride and contempt they speak arrogantly against the righteous.
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F. LaGard Smith (The Daily Bible® - In Chronological Order (NIV®))
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I’ve learned in life even your closest friends can be your biggest enemies given the right motivation.
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C.B. Halliwell (Gabriel's Sacrifice (Fire and Ice, #2))
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Winning the War Games isn’t about strength. It’s about cunning. To know how to strike, you have to understand where your enemies—your friends—are most vulnerable. No one stays friends forever, Mira. Eventually those closest to us become our enemies in some way, even if it’s through well-intentioned love or apathy, or if we live long enough to become their villains.
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Rebecca Yarros (Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1))
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To know how to strike, you have to understand where your enemies—your friends—are most vulnerable. No one stays friends forever, Mira. Eventually those closest to us become our enemies in some way, even if it’s through well-intentioned love or apathy, or if we live long enough to become their villains.
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Rebecca Yarros (Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1))
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My closest one looks like me, but the same one can be my worst enemy.
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Ivan Veljanoski
“
I’m afraid,” I whisper. “Afraid I’ll fail. Afraid he’ll die.” The fear flares through me then, as if by speaking of it I’ve breathed life into it. Shadows gather and pool near the door. Ghuls. Laia, they say. Laia. “Fear is only your enemy if you allow it to be.” Teluman hands me Darin’s blade and nods to the ghuls. I turn and, as Teluman speaks, advance upon them. “Too much fear and you’re paralyzed,” he says. The ghuls aren’t cowed yet. I raise the scim. “Too little fear and you’re arrogant.” I strike out at the closest ghul. It hisses and skitters under the door. Some of its fellows back away, but others lunge at me. I force myself to stand fast, to meet them with the edge of the blade. Moments later, the few that were brave enough to remain flee with wrathful hisses. I turn back to Teluman. He finds my eyes. “Fear can be good, Laia. It can keep you alive. But don’t let it control you. Don’t let it sow doubts within you. When the fear takes over, use the only thing more powerful, more indestructible, to fight it: your spirit. Your heart.
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Sabaa Tahir (An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1))
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We've assembled a small team to assist you, starting with Mr. Kobayashi. He will be your personal security. His family has worked for the Imperial House for decades. He is a wealth of knowledge. You may rely on him for his discretion." Ah, the dagger twists a little deeper. My sworn enemy is to be my closest confidant? Never. "Please be sure to add his contact information to your phone," Mr. Fuchigami says. You bet I will. I'll file it under Satan's Handmaiden, devil horns emoji, double poop emoji.
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Emiko Jean (Tokyo Ever After (Tokyo Ever After, #1))
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Instead of treating your wife or husband like an enemy or someone to be guarded against, start by treating them as your closest, most honored friend. Give their words full weight.
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Alex Kendrick (The Love Dare)
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Right-wingers don’t normally declare that “conservatism is dead” and that “global capitalist markets are the enemy of racial autonomists.” Tarrant calls himself an “Eco-fascist.” Have you ever met a right-winger who pontificates about the need for “furthering the unionization of workers” or minimum-wage increases? Or one who denounces “the ever-increasing wealth of the 1% that exploit the people for their own benefit”? Tarrant writes: “The nation with the closest political and social values to my own is the People’s Republic of China.
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John Lott (Gun Control Myths: How politicians, the media, and botched "studies" have twisted the facts on gun control)
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The Unassailable City was a vast promontory of rock rising hundreds of yards above the waves. Clinging like barnacles to its sheer sides were countless, chaotic structures. Those closest to the sea were fashioned from the flotsam of old ships, seemingly sunken into the face of the rock. Others were crafted from giant, overlapping conch shells strung together with seaweed-rope. Higher up, caves had been hacked from the rock, and crooked shacks struggled for purchase upon narrow shelves. A network of ropes and ladders laced the cliffs, as alive with movement as a web of newly hatched sea spiders. Enormous cranes, used to shift goods to and from the fleets below, grasped the edge of the precipitous heights and tried their balance against the gusting wind. Long-barrelled cannon squatted at their feet like guard dogs. These weapons could sink a frigate a mile distant, and had kept enemies away for centuries. Upon the very summit was a wide plateau, where stood the white houses and marble palaces of the High Mercantilists that ran the city.
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D.M. Ritzlin (Death Dealers & Diabolists)
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She’d come to the North hoping for a happily ever after, and being here with Jacks was the closest she’d come to feeling it. Ever since coming here, Jacks no longer felt like her enemy, he felt like her home.
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Stephanie Garber (The Ballad of Never After (Once Upon a Broken Heart, #2))
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appendix a note on the translation In rendering this book—originally composed in a tongue that has not yet achieved existence—into English, I might easily have saved myself a great deal of labor by having recourse to invented terms; in no case have I done so. Thus in many instances I have been forced to replace yet undiscovered concepts by their closest twentieth-century equivalents. Such words as peltast, androgyn, and exultant are substitutions of this kind, and are intended to be suggestive rather than definitive. Metal is usually, but not always, employed to designate a substance of the sort the word suggests to contemporary minds. When the manuscript makes reference to animal species resulting from biogenetic manipulation or the importation of extrasolar breeding stock, the name of a similar extinct species has been freely substituted. (Indeed, Severian sometimes seems to assume that an extinct species has been restored.) The nature of the riding and draft animals employed is frequently unclear in the original text. I have scrupled to call these creatures horses, since I am certain the word is not strictly correct. The “destriers” of The Book of the New Sun are unquestionably much swifter and more enduring animals than those we know, and the speed of those used for military purposes seems to permit the delivering of cavalry charges against enemies supported by high-energy armament. Latin is once or twice employed to indicate that inscriptions and the like are in a language Severian appears to consider obsolete. What the actual language may have been, I cannot say. To those who have preceded me in the study of the posthistoric world, and particularly to those collectors—too numerous to name here—who have permitted me to examine artifacts surviving so many centuries of futurity, and most especially to those who have allowed me to visit and photograph the era’s few extant buildings, I am truly grateful. G.W.
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Gene Wolfe (Shadow & Claw (The Book of the New Sun, #1-2))
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Eventually those closest to us become our enemies in some way, even if it's through well-intentioned love or apathy, or if we live long enough to become their villains.
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Rebecca Yarros (Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1))
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Eventually those closest to us become our enemies in some way, even if it’s through well-intentioned love or apathy, or if we live long enough to become their villains.
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Rebecca Yarros (Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1))
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Most of them kept going because they had a job to do, and they were the only ones who could do it. The closest thing to heroism was displaying humour:
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Stephen Bungay (The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain)
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John Adams came closest to Trump (and Nixon) with the four Alien and Sedition Acts that restricted immigration and gave him a path to prosecute political enemies—as Trump says he wants to do. One of those four laws remained on the books long enough to give legal cover to the internment of Japanese Americans in 1942. Still, the Adams administration was free of scandal, managed government finances prudently, and launched the modern Navy.
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David Cay Johnston (It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America)
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There was the Amber line. Those whose power resonated closest with the sun and land. They were gentle and nourishing people, whose healing abilities were unparalleled. The Charoite were the seers. Wise men and women who saw more than most eyes could ever see, and warned of a great divide. Despite their wisdom, they were laughed at and their musings disregarded. The Garnet line had imaginations unlike any other. They used their ability to manifest anything and everything they could imagine into real objects that could be touched, tasted, and wielded, making them the wealthiest of the eight. Kunzite were a line of lovers, not fighters, but were also one of the most dangerous. As they could make even the most hated of enemies, drop to their knees and beg for the affection of those they’d sworn to destroy. Their power over the heart, both revered and feared. Malachite were the sworn protectors of all. They had physical strengths unmatched by any others and a drive that ensured they always had a hand in any decision. Their greatest flaw was that they grew vain and unsatisfied with having the same status as everyone else. They wanted complete sovereignty. The Mookaites could be found howling under a full moon or diving deep within the waters, their bodies adapting gills easily, while Quartz could manipulate the emotions of those around them, causing even the most headstrong to succumb to their whims. And the eighth family, the Zircon line, was said to be the weakest; their only strength that of bolstering the energy of those around them. Something the land already did tenfold.
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Helen Scott (Survival (The Hollow, #1))
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The saying goes that you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer. I disagree. Keep your friends closest, so that each of you can keep the enemy squarely in the sights of your deadliest weapons.
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John P. Logsdon (Sinister: Unrighteous (Black Ops Paranormal Police Department, #5))
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There is no real love in politics since you have to marry the daughter of your closest enemy to keep the peace for a while.
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Mwanandeke Kindembo
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Trump fancied himself a world leader like Putin—a man who saw what he wanted and took it, and yet remained beloved by the Russian people. If only Trump could win, then Putin would be his closest friend. Had he not already promised assistance? Yes. His oligarch emissaries, like Konstantin Rykov, had been assisting since the night in 2012 after the reelection of President Barack Obama. That same night Trump demanded in a Twitter message, a tweet, that Americans take to the streets in protest! How could Obama win a second election? Rykov had been watching Trump’s Twitter feed and said in a private message that if he wanted to run for president “Russia will help you.
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Malcolm W. Nance (The Plot to Betray America: How Team Trump Embraced Our Enemies, Compromised Our Security, and How We Can Fix It)
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But Shia scholars would maintain that Muhammad had long before made the divinely guided choice of his closest male relative—his son-in-law Ali—as his successor. He had done so many times, in public, they would say, and if Ali’s enemies had not thwarted the Prophet’s will, he would certainly have done so again, one last time, as he lay dying in that small chamber alongside the mosque.
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Anonymous
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He had learned that this dated back to the days of the jousters. Most folks were right-handed, and back then a man wanted to keep his sword or jousting pole closest to his enemy.
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David Baldacci (Zero Day (John Puller, #1))
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you don’t love anyone either. An argument could be made that you only ever do one of three things to the people closest to you: make enemies of them, kill the people they love, or get them killed. Careful. You’re on thinner ice than you’ve ever been with me.
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Karen Marie Moning (Iced (Fever, #6))
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We were defeated by friends, loved ones, and those closest to our hearts, and by those we thought good .. Our defeats never came from enemies
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Fyodor Dostoevsky
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Finally, the problem about working with friends is that it confuses the boundaries and distances that working requires. But if both partners in the arrangement understand the dangers involved, a friend often can be employed to great effect. You must never let your guard down in such a venture, however; always be on the lookout for any signs of emotional disturbance such as envy and ingratitude. Nothing is stable in the realm of power, and even the closest of friends can be transformed into the worst of enemies.
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Robert Greene (The 48 Laws of Power)
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The lies are of a scale and of a nature that in modern political life I think you can only compare to Donald Trump. I don't think anybody has lied or can lie as casually and as cooly and as completely as Boris Johnson does - except Boris Johnson. We have learned over the last few weeks that his closest colleagues thought he was diabolical. The cabinet secretary that Boris Johnson appointed because he would prove to be, or he was believed to be, a soft touch has described Boris Johnson as being utterly unfit for the job. The advisor that he brought in as a sort of mastermind - having overseen Brexit - Dominick Cummings has described Johnson in terms that you would reserve for your worst enemies. These are the people working closest by him. The only person who's had anything vaguely warm to say about him is Matt Hancock and let me tell you why. They've shaken hands on it. I'd bet my house on some sort of gentleman's... let's rephrase that... I'd bet my house on some sort of charlatan’s agreement behind the scenes that they won't slag each other off because everybody else is telling the truth about them - about Johnson and about Hancock. Hancock's uselessness facilitated and enabled by Johnson's uselessness, by Johnson's moral corruption effectively. And now the lies begin. 5,000 WhatsApp messages. ‘No idea. No, no, no, no idea. Don't know. Don't know technical people. Uh... factory reset. Don't know. Bleep, bleep.’
And then the classic: the flooding of the Zone. With so much manure that it's hard to know where to start. ‘We may have made mistakes’ is one of the latest statements to come out. Turns up 3 hours early so that he doesn't have to walk the gamut of people congregating to remember their lost loved ones and to share their feelings with the man that they consider to be partly responsible for their death. Absolutely extraordinary scenes, truly extraordinary scenes. How does he get away with it? Hugo Keith is a much tougher inquisitor than Lindsay flipping Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons. He's a much tougher inquisitor than any of the interviewers that Boris Johnson deigns to have his toes tickled by on a regular basis. He's a much tougher interviewer or scrutineer than the newspaper editors who have given him half a million pounds a year to write columns or already published articles about why he's the real victim in this story. Philip Johnston in the Daily Telegraph today writing an article before Boris Johnson has given a single syllable of evidence, claiming that Boris Johnson is the real victim of this. I'd love him to go and read that out to the Covid families assembled outside the inquiry. And remember it was Daily Telegraph columnists and former editors that convened at the Club with Jacob Rees-Mogg and others to launch the Save Owen Paterson Society after another one of these charlatans was found to have breached parliamentary standards. Their response of course was not to advise their ally to accept the punishment that was coming his way but to attempt to get him off the hook and rip up the rule book under which he'd been found to be guilty.
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James O'Brien