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  ...conditions; and we ought to be the first to take part in assisting in that emancipation. I think some of these gentlemen have already had occasion to bear witness that the Department of State in recent months has tried to serve them in that wise. In the future they will draw closer and closer to us because of circumstances of which I wish to speak with moderation and, I hope, without indiscretion.
We must prove ourselves their friends and champions upon terms of equality and honor. You cannot be friends upon any other terms than upon the terms of equality.   You cannot be friends at all except upon the terms of honor. We must show ourselves friends by comprehending their interest whether it squares with our own interest or not. It is a very perilous thing to determine the foreign policy of a nation in the terms of material interest. It not only is unfair to those with whom you are dealing, but it is degrading as regards your own actions.
Comprehension must be the soil in which shall grow all the fruits of friendship, and there is a reason...   Wilson, Woodrow T.

Excerpt from Goede Vaêr Tromp of hoe de Vereenigde Provinciën eene zeemogendheid werden · This quote is about friends and friendship · Search on Google Books to find all references and sources for this quotation.

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