proverb · Words worth keeping
If you practice love even your adversary will become a friend.
If you practice love even your adversary will become a friend.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Practising love is said to turn an adversary into a friend. The saying expresses hope that care can transform an antagonistic relationship.
What the words are saying
A responsible reading does not promise a response from another person or make reconciliation compulsory. Kind conduct can matter alongside boundaries, accountability and distance when needed. Someone’s continued hostility is not proof that the other person failed to show enough love.
Everyday example
Someone responds respectfully to a dispute while keeping a boundary if the other person remains hostile.
When to use it
Use it as a hope for changed relations rather than a guarantee.
What it does not mean
No guaranteed friendship or duty to reconcile with a harmful person is established.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- Contributor-provided wisdom reference (2014 AD)
Supplied reference B; unit 351; PDF page 35; collection label: Tibet Province of China
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- Tibet Province of China