be one's own worst enemy

Meaning: (idiomatic)To causeproblemsfor one's self, act contrary to one's owninterest,self-sabotage.1870, Mary Dwinell Chellis,Mark Dunning's Enemy‎[1], page27:“Markis his own worst enemy. Good night.” True. No enemy however powerful and malicious, can so work a man's ruin as his own unbridled passions and depraved appetites.1881[1589], Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, translated by Charles Thornton Forster and F.H. Blackburne Daniell,The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq‎[2], translation ofLegationis Turcicae epistolae quatuor(in Latin), page221:For each manis his own worst enemy, and has no foe more deadly than his own intemperance, which is sure to kill him, if the enemy be not quick.2024April 20,Phil McNulty, “Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea”, inBBC Sport‎[3]:Pochettino set his team up ideally to keep City at bay but once again, as they did in that Carabao Cup final loss to Liverpool, Chelseawere their own worst enemiesas they squandered opportunities to banish memories of that reverse.

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