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"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

January 1, 1970

Quote Details

Added by wikiquote-import-bot

Added on April 10, 2026

Unverified quote

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Virtues Interpersonal relationships

Original Language: English

Sources

Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo, The Godfather Part II (1974), (character of "Michael Corleone"); this has often become attributed to Sun Tzu and sometimes to Niccolò Machiavelli or Petrarch, but there are no published sources yet found which predate its use in the second Godfather film, where Corleone states: My father taught me many things here — he taught me in this room. He taught me — keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friendship

Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo, The Godfather Part II (1974), (character of "Michael Corleone"); this has often become attributed to Sun Tzu and sometimes to Niccolò Machiavelli or Petrarch, but there are no published sources yet found which predate its use in the second Godfather film, where Corleone states: My father taught me many things here — he taught me in this room. He taught me — keep your friends close but your enemies closer.