Thursday, March 8, 2012

Man and his Company

'A Man is known by the company he keeps'. A friend of mine introduced me to this famous quote. We were discussing about some people and their nature. I thought about this quote for a while but couldn't really agree to it at all.

To elaborate, A person who befriends people who smoke and drink; does not always do, like or support what they do. A person who gets along well with scholars, is not necessarily a scholar or even who aims to be one. This reminds me of a Sanskrit Subhaashit which goes like,

विकॄतिं नैव गच्छन्ति संगदोषेण साधव: |
आवेष्टितं महासर्पैश्चंदनं न विषायते ||

It means that bad company does not induce changes (bad habits) in a good person. (as) (poisonous) snakes (cobra) on sandal tree does not cause that tree to become poisonous.
(Source: http://sa.wiktionary.org) 

I would like to focus my disagreement on the word 'known' in this particular saying. I'd rather say,

'A Man is 'judged' by the company he keeps. To 'know' him; you have to BE his company.'
- A J Oka.

7 comments:

  1. Thanks Vedhas and Arnika !

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  2. It is true that the society judges you by the company you keep. But most people esp youngsters in the process of knowing other person and to develop camaradieri start behaving just like the person they are accompanying. Human behaviour always gets affected by emotions, actions and the effect of other person`s stronger (if that is the case) personality. Over time this will finally significantly alter the your own behaviour and that is why society starts knowing you by the company you keep.

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    1. Thanks for sharing your view DSNSCAN. I appreciate.

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  3. Yes, I agree People judge you based on the company one keeps. I personally feel one should be judged only by knowing that person and not by the company he / she keeps.

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    1. True! Thanks for stopping by and commenting. See you soon.

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