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But the mouse, conversant with all that is productive of the highest good, replied in sweet words that were beneficial to himself:—"Hear how the matter appears to me. Friends should be well examined. Foes also should be well studied. In this world a task like this is regarded by even the learned as a difficult one, depending upon acute intelligence. Friends assume the guise of foes, and foes of friends. When compacts of friendship are formed, it is difficult for either party to Understand why the other party is moved. There is no such
thing as a foe. There is no such thing in existence as a friend. It is the force of circumstances that creates friends and foes. He who regards his own interests ensured as long as another person lives, and thinks them endangered when another person will cease to live, takes
that other person for a friend and considers him such as long as those interests of his are not interfered with. There is no condition that
deserves permanently the name either of friendship or hostility. Both arise from considerations of interest and gain. Self-interest is
