"Beware
Of entrance to a fight; but, being in,
Bear't that the opponent may beware of thee."
I do not ask for battles, but I do not refuse them once offered, either.
Ah, and another passage from the same authority:
"Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch’d, unfledg’d comrade."
This about the remark about "little band of friends".