“Know how to make use of your enemies.”Baltasar Gracián · Oracolul manual · 1647 · 15
Transform your enemies into tools for learning and improvement.
Gracián overturns the reflex of avoiding hostility at any cost. The mechanism is an asymmetry of roles: an indulgent friend hides your flaws, an adversary hunts for them and, without meaning to, flags them. A rival who attacks your project in public shows you exactly where it is vulnerable, more honestly than any well-meaning colleague. Moreover, fear of an enemy keeps up the vigilance that the comfort of friendship relaxes.
Why it matters Helps someone publicly criticized extract information from the attack instead of merely defending themselves.