* * * * *

Sweet words will multiply a man's friends; and a fair-speaking tongue
will multiply courtesies. Let those that are at peace with thee be many;
but thy counsellors one of a thousand. If thou wouldest get thee a
friend, get him by proving, and be not in haste to trust him. For there
is a friend that is so for his own occasion, and he will not continue in
the day of thy affliction. And there is a friend that turneth to enmity;
and he will discover strife to thy reproach. And there is a friend that
is a companion at the table, and he will not continue in the day of thy
affliction; and in thy prosperity he will be as thyself, and will be
bold over thy servants; if thou shalt be brought low, he will be against
thee, and he will hide himself from thy face.

--_Bible_.

* * * * *

The first thing you should procure, after faith, is a good friend.

--_Arabic_.

* * * * *

Such a friendship, that through it we love places and seasons; for as
bright bodies emit rays at a distance, and flowers drop their sweet
leaves on the ground around them, so friends impart favor even to the
places where they dwell. With friends even poverty is pleasant. Words
cannot express the joy which a friend imparts; they only can know who