One has to be careful about the company one keeps.

हंसो न भाति बलिभोजनवृन्दमद्ध्ये

गोमायुमण्डलगतो न विभाति सिंहः।

जात्या न भाति तुरगः खरयूथमध्य

विद्वान्न भाति पुरुषेषुनिरक्षरेषु॥१४३

चाणक्यराजनीतिशास्त्रं  अष्ठमो अध्यायः

haṁso na bhāti balibhojanavṛndamaddhye

gomāyumaṇḍalagato na vibhāti siṁhaḥ|

jātyā na bhāti turagaḥ kharayūthamadhya

vidvānna bhāti puruṣeṣunirakṣareṣu||143

cāṇakyarājanītiśāstraṁ  aṣṭhamo adhyāyaḥ

A very sound introspection by the master Chanakya.. 
Whatever great qualities a persons has will get reflected only if he is in proper environment and in good comapany.  
He says, 
" The swan does not have a celebrated place among crows which thrive on the scattered crumbs of food thrown out by people after offering such food to their preceptors. 
 Even if it is presiding over a huge crowd of jackals. the lion will have no value or status in that crowd.  
The pedigree horse, if it has the misfortune to be in a crowd of donkeys, will never be recognized for its value.  
Similaraly a very learned person. if he is to live amongst illiterate people in the whole community, his life loses meaning."

It is very important that one should be highly selective about the company he keeps.  Many great people have suffered because of bad and unworthy company. 
Sometimes the environment in which one inhabits and the standard of enlightenment of the people with whom he interacts, can doom his whole life to complete disaster.  This happens to many..they fall into bad company and acquire the habits or ideologies of such groups and even though possessing of great knowledge, would never get a chance to apply such knowledge for the benefit neither of the society or for his own benefit.  
One has to be wary of the company one keeps.

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