There is no
such thing as a foe. There is no such thing in existence as a friend. It
is 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 that other person will cease to live, takes that other
person for a friend and considers him so as long as those interests of
his are not clashed against. There is no condition that deserves
permanently the name either of friendship or hostility. Both friends and
foes arise from considerations of interest and gain. Friendship becomes
changed into enmity in the course of time. A foe also becomes a friend.
Self-interest is very powerful. He who reposes blind trust on friends and
always behaves with mistrust towards foes without paying any regard to
considerations of policy, finds his life to be unsafe. He who,
disregarding all considerations of policy, sets his heart upon an
affectionate union with either friends or foes, comes to be regarded as a
person whose understanding has been unhinged. One should not repose trust
upon a person undeserving of trust, nor should one trust too much a
person deserving of trust. The danger that arises from blind reposing of
confidence is such that it cuts the very roots (of the person that
reposes such confidence). The father, the mother, the son, the maternal
uncle, the sister's son, other relatives and kinsmen, are all guided by
considerations of interest and profit.
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