QuoteProject
I embrace my rival, but only to strangle him.
Jean Racine
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote suggests that rivalry can be embraced, but it ultimately leads to competition or conflict.

In this quote, Jean Racine expresses a complex perspective on rivalry, indicating that while he may acknowledge and accept his rivals, the underlying intention is one of dominance or competition. The imagery of embracing a rival only to strangle them symbolizes the duality of relationships in competitive contexts, where there may be an acknowledgment of the other person, but it is accompanied by a desire to overcome or defeat them, highlighting the often contradictory nature of human interactions in the face of competition.

Themes

RivalryCompetitionDominanceConflictRelationships

In practice

Example use cases

During a speech on competition in business, one might say, 'As Jean Racine said, I embrace my rival, but only to strangle him, highlighting the nature of competition.'

More from Jean Racine

The quarrels of lovers are the renewal of love.
Jean RacineRead
I have everything, yet have nothing; and although I possess nothing, still of nothing am I in want.
Jean RacineRead
I am a man, and nothing that concerns a man do I deem a matter of indifference to me.
Jean RacineRead
There are no secrets that time does not reveal.
Jean RacineRead
A single word often betrays a great design.
Jean RacineRead

Similar quotes

The more complex the network is, the more complex its pattern of interconnections, the more resilient it will be.
Fritjof CapraRead
Life has many good things. The problem is that most of these good things can be gotten only by sacrificing other good things. We all recognize this in our daily lives. It is only in politics that this simple, common sense fact is routinely ignored.
Thomas SowellRead
So the day became one of waiting, which was, he knew, a sin: moments were to be experienced; waiting was a sin against both the time that was still to come and the moments one was currently disregarding.
Neil GaimanRead
Good people can't out-think evil, cause evil thinks of things good folks can't think of.
Orson Scott CardRead
The offering of [the body] is called a spiritual sacrifice because it is freely sacrificed through the Spirit, the Christian being uninfluenced by the constrainst of the Low or the fear of hell.
Martin LutherRead
I'm one of those introverted people who simply feels a lot better after spending time alone thinking through ideas and emotions. This is a sign, I've come to think, of a kind of emotional disturbance - a reaction to inner fragility. I wish I were more able to just act and do, rather than constantly have to retreat and examine and think.
Alain De BottonRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.