A Quote by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

I would rather have five energetic and competent enemies than one fool friend.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

Quote Topics

Competent Enemies Energetic Five Fool Friend Rather Than Would

Quote Author

Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
English - Writer
May 25, 1803 - January 18, 1873

Nothing more completely baffles one who is full of trick and duplicity than straigthforward and simple integrity in another. A knave would rather quarrel with a brother knave than with a fool, but he would rather avoid a quarrel with one honest man than with both. He can combat a fool by management and address, and he can conquer a knave by temptations. But the honest man is neither to be bamboozled nor bribed.

Charles Caleb Colton

I would rather work with five people who really believe in what they are doing rather than five hundred who can't see the point.

Patrick Dixon

I would rather have a competent extremist than an incompetent moderate.

Leon Jaworski

If the Church were not true, our enemies would be bored rather than threatened, and acquiescent rather than anxious. Hell is moved only when things move heavenward.

Neal A. Maxwell

Christian morality (so called) has all the characters of a reaction; it is, in great part, a protest against Paganism. Its ideal is negative rather than positive; passive rather than action; innocence rather than Nobleness; Abstinence from Evil, rather than energetic Pursuit of Good: in its precepts (as has been well said) "thou shalt not" predominates unduly over "thou shalt.

John Stuart Mill

The Scripture saith, The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God; it is not said, The fool hath thought in his heart; so as he rather saith it, by rote to himself, as that he would have, than that he can thoroughly believe it, or be persuaded of it....It appeareth in nothing more, that atheism is rather in the lip, than in the heart of man.

Francis Bacon

I am a friend of the working man, and I would rather be his friend, than be one.

Clarence Darrow

I suppose [...] that the most convincing way to fool an enemy would be to fool a friend.

Anne Bishop

Never, ladies, marry a fool. Any husband rather than a fool. With some other husband you may be unhappy, but with a fool you will be miserable.

Daniel Defoe

What is competent? Who is it that can adjudicate what is competent or not competent? If the guys that are running the most important banks in our country aren't competent enough, well then, who is competent enough?

Edward Conard

If the traveler cannot find master or friend to go with him, let him travel alone rather than with a fool for company.

Gautama Buddha

But I'd rather help than watch. I'd rather have a heart than a mind. I'd rather expose too much than too little. I'd rather say hello to strangers than be afraid of them. I would rather know all this about myself than have more money than I need. I'd rather have something to love than a way to impress you.

Po Bronson

I find that most men would rather have their bellies opened for five hundred dollars than have a tooth pulled for five.

Martin H. Fischer

If I could be really competent, that goes such a long way toward things, because the majority of things are not competent. If I can be competent, and have moments of originality, that's all I would ask for.

Jon Stewart

As a means of dispensing formulated ignorance our boasted public school system is not without merit; it spreads out education sufficiently thin to give everyone enough to make him a more competent fool than he would have been without it.