If one friend grows far superior to the other in character and virtue, there will no longer be a basis for genuine friendship, but the superior friend should maintain a certain regard for the other as a remembrance of earlier intimacy. For a virtuous man has harmonious thoughts, the parts of the soul are in concord, and he wishes for himself what is god. The thinking part of a person is what the person primarily is. Because a true friend is another self, friendship shares the qualities of proper self-love. Bad men, on the other hand, are in conflict with themselves, for they choose what is pleasant but harmful rather than what is good.
Evil men seek companions as a distraction, to escape from themselves.
Bad men are full of regrets because they do that which the highest part of themselves does not want to do. A bad man is thus not disposed to love himself. Good will is similar to friendship, but it is not friendship because we can have good will toward strangers. A feeling of love is also not friendship, because friendship does not involve intensity or desire as a feeling of love does. Good will is the beginning of friendship, and can lead to friendship if the good will persists and familiarity arises.