Who said, "It is easier to forgive one's enemy than one's friends?"?
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William Blake\nIt is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.
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That is kind of a tricky little quote. Sometimes placing it in context can help. This is a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Self Reliance," which discourages basing one's opinions and actions on common opinion in favor of self-trust (see the full essay at http://www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm). \nI think the point of this quote is that it's very desireable to have one's own original thoughts and opinions, and to live by them.  It's easier to live by one's own convictions and not be persuaded by others when in isolation (that's the "independence of solitude"). However, not so special to isolate oneself from others in order to attain this ideal. Because it's difficult to live by one's own thoughts and opinions while being a part of society, it's something only a "finished man" can truly do. Also, in the essay, Emerson refers to being childlike - unselfish, non-judgmental, open-minded, uncynical, unhesitant - as something to admire. So I think that's where the seemingly misplaced "perfect sweetness" comes in. When a man can remain pure of heart while living in the harsh world and also keeping and living by his own ideals. \nWhat do you think?
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“Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too” \n Voltaire\n\n“Self-reliance is the only road to true freedom, and being one's own person is its ultimate reward” \n Patricia Sampson\n \n“I listen with attention to the judgement of all men; but so far as I can remember, I have followed none but my own” \n Chicbonvivant Michel de Montaigne
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I search for quotes and this was the closest that I found that matches your quote and lists who it is attributed.\n\nA heart is not judged by how much you love but by how much you are\nloved by others.\n-- The Wizard of Oz
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Who said we hate homosexuals?
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"You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns when they all did tricks for you!\nYou never understood that it ain't no good- you shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you."\n\n~Bob Dylan ("Like a Rolling Stone")\n\n\nI♥♫→mia☼☺†
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Unfortunately this quote is famous because several knights who were drunk and lingering outside the door overheard this and went to go "help" their king. They killed Thomas Becket and it is said the cut his head off.  The King grief stricken by his good friends death sent the knights to the holy land (Jerusalem), an effective death sentence, to make penance for their crimes against the church and god.\nG
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An outer enemy is easier to understand and eventually overcome than the inner enemy.
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Thomas Jefferson said:\n\nTimid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty\n\nI would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it\n\nThose who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one
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Nathan Hale, right before they hung him as a spy.\n\nI believe he said, "I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."
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“Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead! In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility: But when the blast of war blows in our ears, Then imitate the action of the tiger; Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, Disguise fair nature with hard-favour’d rage; Then lend the eye a terrible aspect.”
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Voltaire.  It's my favorite quote.
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"If you have made a mistake, cut your losses as quickly as possible." --  Bernard Mannes Baruch\n\n\n"Our loyalties must transend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective." -  Martin Luther King, Jr.
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I like these two together, \n\n"If you know both yourself and your enemy, you will come out of one hundred battles with one hundred victories. "\n\n"One hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the most skillful. Seizing the enemy without fighting is the most skillful. "
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"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" is an arab quote.  \n\nSee the links below.
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That's a very astute quotation. It says that by keeping someone with a lie, you will hurt them more than if you were to lose them by setting them free with the truth.
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"Out of life's school of war: What does not destroy me, makes me stronger."\nby Friedrich Nietzsche, from The Twilight of the Idols (1899)