A variation of this Baltasar Gracian quote was spoken in the 2013 movie, Rush.
You can tell a lot about a person by the company he or she keeps. Someone who is wise doesn’t surround themselves with fools. As they say, we are the sum of the five people we spend the most time with.
And the truth is, we tend to take comfort in the company of our friends. These are people we have selected to develop a deeper, more meaningful relationship with who we feel we can trust. But many times, with that comfort comes familiarity. Hopefully if you have friends who are thought to be wise, they also challenge you.
Our enemies require us to think harder and be better. They aren’t ‘safe’ people. While a wise man may not fear their enemies, they will certainly pay attention to what they do. Why? Because they need to be able to predict harm that an enemy may attempt to cause them.
We may spend more time trying to understand our enemies’ motives, too. What drives them? What do they really want? Why do they see you as an enemy?
