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“Never discover your uneasiness to an evil person, for he will afford you no comfort.
“Know, that if you have a friend, you
ought to visit him often. The road is
grown over with grass, the bushes
quickly spread over it, if it is not
constantly travelled.
“Be not the first to break with your
friend. Sorrow gnaws the heart of him
who hath no one to advise with but
himself.
“Obsequiousness produces friends: but
it is vile indeed to flatter ones own self.
“Have never three words of dispute
with the wicked. The good will
often yield up a point, when the wicked
is enraged and swollen with pride.
Nevertheless, it is dangerous to be silent,
when you are reproached with having
the heart of a woman; for then you
would be taken for a coward.
“I advise you, be circumspect, but not
too much: be so, however, when you
have drunk to excess; when you are near
