Distrust interested advice.
If you choose bad companions, no one will believe that you are anything but bad yourself.
If you don't want to lose, you should wait for the right opportunity
A doubtful friend is worse than a certain enemy. Let a man be one thing or the other, and we then know how to meet him.
A fair-minded person tries to see both sides of an argument.
Those who voluntarily put power into the hands of a tyrant ... must not wonder if it be at last turned against themselves.