It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction. Warren Buffett
We are far more liable to catch the vices than the virtues of our associates. Denis Diderot
Courage is not a quality one normally associates with mathematicians. Yet it should apply to people who work in their attics in secret for seven years without cease on a problem that has eluded the greatest mathematical minds since first proposed in 1637. Charles Krauthammer
How happy is the little stone That rambles in the road alone, And doesn't care about careers, And exigencies never fears; Whose coat of elemental brown A passing universe put on; And independent as the sun, Associates or glows alone, Fulfilling absolute decree In casual simplicity. Emily Dickinson
A puppy plays with every pup he meets, but an old dog has few associates. Josh Billings
He who associates with dogs learns to pant. American Proverb