The popular proverb says to “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer,” Oscar Wilde wrote “Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much”; the list of similar expressions could go on and on. And it’s likely safe to say that most of them bear some truth in them, considering that they’re prevalent to this day.
Another similar phrase, attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, suggests to “Never interrupt an enemy while they are making a mistake”, and redditors proved that one to be true. User ‘Spinksy48’ asked the ‘Ask Reddit’ community members what was their “never-interrupt-an-enemy” moment, and they had plenty of stories to share. Scroll down to find them on the list below and see why some expressions are able to stand the test of time.
During my very long and exhausting divorce, my ex husband kept insisting he was ready to settle, we would schedule a conference with my lawyer and I, and then pushed papers around the table for 2 hours. He would just argue over petty details rather than actually discuss anything. This happened a few times. I was incredibly frustrated because I genuinely walked into this wanting to compromise so it would be over quickly. But that was never an option. Note that I hired a lawyer and he did not – he was convinced he could do it on his own better. So after a few rounds of this, I got the impression that he was trying to waste my money until I could no longer retain my lawyer and then he thought he would have the upper hand. I made less than half of what he did at the time and my lawyer’s retainer fee wiped out my entire savings so it was a very real concern. My suspicions were confirmed when one day as we were walking out of my lawyer’s office, he told me this, word for word while chuckling.
I passed this on to my lawyer who actually cackled and told me “let him.” It was then that I learned that we were 6 months out from being married 10 years and at that point, I would be entitled to a sizable part of his pension upon retirement.
She let him play his games for 6 more months without saying a word and then finally took our case before a judge 5 days after our 10 year anniversary. Not only did I get part of his pension, but she also got the judge to order him to pay almost all of my lawyers fees. The beauty of it was that it 100% his fault for playing games.