Puzo's Famous Quote: "Keep Your Friends Close ..."

"... but keep your enemies closer." remember that one?

... a true statement that you agree with? i've been thinking about it and i'm not sure i agree with it. how close? in my experience i've found that you want to keep your enemies as far away from you as possible -- like in siberia for instance ...

... perhaps what puzo meant was that in a war scenario you want your enemy close so you can determine what the next move of your enemy is going to be ...

... what do you think?

I think the idea was to lull your enemy into some sort of false comfort, and that he'd eventually relax enough to tip his hand or make some mistake. It worked well with Mike and Carlo.

I think it's a great piece of dialogue from the greatest film of all time. Beyond that, no one is ever really going to confuse Puzo or Coppola for Machiavelli or Sun Tsu. Puzo was a pulp writer (a great one), and Coppola a filmmaker. But boy, did they write some great dialogue together!

If you're interested in the subject, you should pick up Machiavelli or Sun Tsu.

Inspector Columbo used the same strategy.

... i guess if you're going to do the deed and kill your enemy you want him/her close to you ...

... puzo is a great pulp writer and i agree he's like the master of pulp writers or something. his material is filled with wisdom and truth though so i take his aphorisms seriously. like the famous "make him an offer he can't refuse" quote. it's a logical quote, it makes sense. that's why i'm surprised to find myself questioning puzo's "keep your friends close" quote ...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-05-09/john-edwards-trial/54857072/1

5/9/2012

Former Edwards aide discusses wife's outrage

Jennifer Palmieri, a former campaign spokeswoman for John Edwards testified Wednesday that his wife, Elizabeth Edwards angrily confronted a key donor, Fred Barton, in 2007, at a hotel in Iowa, about Barton's support for the pregnant mistress of the presidential candidate Edwards.

Jennifer Palmieri testified the candidate, John Edwards had called her to the Davenport, Iowa, hotel room where Elizabeth Edwards was arguing with campaign finance chairman Fred Baron and his wife Lisa Blue, about the couple's financial help to John Edwards mistress, Rielle Hunter.

Palmieri had become close friends with Elizabeth Edwards. John Edwards hoped Palmieri's presence could help calm the situation.

That day in October of 2007, Jennifer Palmieri said Fred Baron's wife, Lisa Blue, admitted to Elizabeth Edwards that she had flown Rielle Hunter to Los Angeles for a shopping trip.

Palmieri said she heard Lisa Blue explaining this to Elizabeth Edwards by saying "You've got to hold your friends close and your enemies closer."

Lisa Blue also told Elizabeth Edwards that Rielle Hunter was a "loose cannon" who could have exposed the affair to the media, Palmieri testified.

The idea is to know what your enemy is thinking to have a leg up on him. For example by keeping Roth "closer" he learned that Roth was behind the hit.

Exactly.

Is it really a Puzo quote? (It's not in the novel.)
Or did FFC put it in the script?

I don't recall it in the novel either. Someone stuck it in the script.