Evil Friendship (By St. Thiruvalluvar) Poem by Rajendran Muthiah

811.Though evil men quaffing friendship show,
Their love had better wither away than grow.
812.It is no loss or gain of the friendship with the evil
Who stick to you when you are rich and desert in hitch.
813.One who for the selfish-gain friendship does strike,
The harlot nodding any rate and the looters are all alike.
814.To live alone is far better than the friendship of one
Who leaves you in the tug of war like an untrained horse.
815.It is not better to seek the unsafe friendship of the mean
Though they are keen to give some succour.
816.It is better ten million times of the wise man’s animosity
Than a foolish man’s close amity.
817.Friendship with foes gives a ten crore times of gain
Than it with the laughable men in vain.
818.Drop in calm the friendship with those who feign inability
To do what they can do.
819.The friendship of those who don’t do what they say
Will distress you in dreams and also when you are awake.
820.Avoid the even minuscule friendship of those
Who are friendly at home but at court bellicose.