Having No Companies, It Is Better to Walk Alone

It is said in the Dhammapada: having no companies, it is better to walk alone. And the error of the superior man who disregards this recommendation will be grave. Not being able to surround himself with nobler spirits,—or at least similar ones,—he will have to choose solitude or self-destruction. If he risks an impossible conciliation, if he gives in to the gregarious instinct instead of annulling it, then he will see, over and over again, the infamous manifestations which characterize inferior spirits, culminating in a state where he can no longer distinguish himself from them. Consequently, he will have neutralized his potentialities and, if there is a shred of wisdom left, he will have to face his choices—when it is no longer possible to reverse them—with his mind filled with regret and frustration.