Do you ask me what you should regard as especially to be avoided? I say,
crowds; for as yet you cannot trust yourself to them with safety. I
shall admit my own weakness, at any rate; for I never bring back home
the same character that I took abroad with me. Something of that which I
have forced to be calm within me is disturbed; some of the foes that I
have routed return again. Just as the sick man, who has been weak for a
long time, is in such a condition that he cannot be taken out of the
house without suffering a relapse, so we ourselves are affected when our
souls are recovering from a lingering disease. To consort
with the crowd is harmful; there is no person who does not make some
vice attractive to us, or stamp it upon us, or taint us unconsciously
therewith. Certainly, the greater the mob with which we mingle, the
greater the danger.
Withdraw into yourself, as far as you can. Associate with those who will
make a better man of you. Welcome those whom you yourself can improve.
The process is mutual; for men learn while they teach.
L. A. Seneca Letters to Lucilius n. 7
L. A. Seneca Letters to Lucilius n. 7
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