16. “Thus may the character of treacherous persons be described; at first they fall at your feet, and then drink your blood; thus the false friends and black gnats practice alike every mode of treachery.”
17. “Make no league with an avowed enemy, or with a flatterer. Water, though well warmed, would quench, nevertheless, the fire that warmed it.”
18. “If the friendship of the good be interrupted their minds admit of no long change; as when the stalks of the lotus are broken, the filaments within them are more visibly connected.”
19. “Charity, forbearance, participation in pains and pleasures, goodness of heart, and truth; these are the sciences of friendship.”
20. “Goodness and truth are discerned by a man’s discourse, but cowardice and a variable mind are easily discerned by his conduct.”
21. “It is one thing to hear the words of a friend whose heart is pure as water, and another to hear the words of a base dissembler.”
22. “A wise man walks slowly and circumspectly, and lives in one place, nor having seen another station should he desert his former abode.”
23. “It is easy for all men to display learning in instructing others, but it is the part of one endued with a great mind to form himself by the rules of justice.”
24. “As those who have caught cold, take no pleasure in moonshine, or those who have fever, in the heat of the sun, so the mind of a woman delights not a husband where there is great disparity of years.”
25. “It is better to pull up by the roots a loose tooth, and a wicked counsellor.”
26. “He is a friend whom favors have not purchased, and he is a man who is not subdued by his senses.”
27. “The seed of good advice must be cherished with extreme care, it must not be broken ever so little, if it be, it will not grow.”
28. “A hundred good words are lost upon the wicked; a hundred wise words are lost upon a fool; a hundred good precepts are lost upon the obstinate, and a hundred sciences upon those who never reflect.”
29. “A serpent drinking milk only increases his venom, thus a fool being admonished is provoked, but not benefitted. A sensible man may be admonished, but not a fool.”
30. “He who knows not his own weakness must be routed by flatterers and enemies.”
31. “A great man becomes little, and his virtue is diminished by associating with an unprincipled person.”