I cannot tell you how thankful I am for your reminding me about the apocrypha here. For the moment, its being such escaped me.This son of Sirach even says — I saw it but just now: 'Take heed of thy friends'; not, observe, thy seeming friends, thy hypocritical friends, thy false friends, but thy friends, thy real friends — that is to say, not the truest friend in the world is to be implicitly trusted.it's apocrypha, as you say, sir. For how can that be trustworthy that teaches distrust?"
Herman Melville