Enemies Can Force Your System Into a State of Alert Competence

An enemy can force your system into a state of alert competence. We feel more ashamed of our faults before our enemies than before our friends. This is the ground of scipio nasica's remark, when some expressed their belief that the power of the romans was now secure inasmuch as the carthaginians had been annihilated and the achaeans reduced to objection. So give thanks to day for your enemies or your competition. They might help you achieve what you failed to do with philosophy alone.