The Eighth Chapter: Shunning Over-Familiarity

   DO NOT open your heart to every man, but discuss your affairs with one

   who is wise and who fears God. Do not keep company with young people

   and strangers. Do not fawn upon the rich, and do not be fond of

   mingling with the great. Associate with the humble and the simple, with

   the devout and virtuous, and with them speak of edifying things. Be not

   intimate with any woman, but generally commend all good women to God.

   Seek only the intimacy of God and of His angels, and avoid the notice

   of men.

   We ought to have charity for all men but familiarity with all is not

   expedient. Sometimes it happens that a person enjoys a good reputation

   among those who do not know him, but at the same time is held in slight

   regard by those who do. Frequently we think we are pleasing others by

   our presence and we begin rather to displease them by the faults they

   find in us.