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Which is not to say that every nice person is an embezzler.

I was given the advice early in my career of being mindful of very nice people. I misunderstood it as "be a disgusting person".

You need to be nice and be a honest person of integrity. That's the magic. Not "OR" but "AND".

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I think this is important. At the end of the day you have to live with yourself, and it's easier to live with a person who is nice rather than one who is mean.

100%.

This was a piece of advice I used to often get from my parents as a child. Didn't really understand it for the longest time, I used to think "they're my friends! they're going to help me out too when I need it". Took a few times of getting into one-sided friendships to realize what they meant, nowadays anyone being excessively nice without a reason sets of alarms unless I know enough about them.

It's really a balance, but yes, I too have been in relationships like the ones you describe.

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