
Choose never for thy mate
a little man, or long, or red...
The little man is so conceited,
no one can dwell near him...
The long man is ill to be with,
seldom is his heart brave...
The red man is a rogue,
for he will advise thee ill;
he is quarrelsome, a thief and whoreling,
a scold, of mischief he is king.
The Proverbs of Alfred, st. 19, as published in The Dialogue of Salomon and Saturnus (1848) http://archive.org/stream/dialogueofsalomo00kembuoft#page/226/mode/2up/search/Alfred, edited by John Mitchell Kemble, p. 247
Misattributed