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About this quote

What does it mean?
Love your enemy; it will scare the hell out of him.
In plain terms
Showing love to an opponent can unsettle them.
What can you take from it?
Use unexpected compassion as a strategy.

Where it applies

  • conflict resolution
  • political debate

Putting it to work

  • respond with kindness
  • defuse tension

Questions to consider

  • When is love a powerful tool?
  • Can it backfire?

Another view

Love may be seen as weakness by some.

More from Samuel Langhorne Clemens

  1. Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear, and the blind can read.

    Permalink to quote #178
  2. The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.

    Permalink to quote #180
  3. Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.

    Permalink to quote #177

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