The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.
This quote suggests that if one cannot be wise oneself, the next best thing is to surround oneself with people who are wise. It emphasizes the importance of one’s environment and company in personal growth and development. The circle of people we interact with significantly influences our thoughts, actions, and overall personality. If those people are wise, their wisdom will inevitably rub off on us.
The concept of wisdom here isn’t just about knowledge or intelligence; it’s about understanding life and making good decisions. Wisdom is a combination of experience, knowledge, insight, common sense and judgment. It’s not something you can acquire by reading a book or attending a class; it comes from living life.
In today’s world where information is readily available at our fingertips thanks to technology like the internet, it may seem like everyone has access to knowledge hence wisdom should be ubiquitous. However, this quote reminds us that true wisdom isn’t just about having information but knowing how to use that information effectively for good judgement and decision making.
When applied in personal development context this quote suggests that we should be careful while choosing our friends or peers as they have significant influence on us. If we choose wisely then their positive traits such as wisdom can help us grow as individuals even if we lack certain qualities ourselves.
Moreover in professional settings such as workplaces this idea applies too since surrounding ourselves with knowledgeable colleagues can help improve our own performance by learning from them directly or indirectly through observation.
In educational settings students might benefit more by studying in groups where they could learn from each other rather than studying alone especially when group members have diverse skills sets which complements each other well.
In essence what C.S Lewis implies through his words is that even though self-improvement is important it doesn’t necessarily mean isolating oneself but rather embracing others’ strengths specially wisdom for mutual growth.
