Some words on Baltasar Gracian

Cultivate those who can teach you. Let
friendly intercourse be a school of knowledge,
and culture be taught through conversation: thus
you make your friends your teachers and mingle
the pleasures of conversation with the advantages
of instruction. Sensible persons thus enjoy
alternating pleasures: they reap applause for what
they say, and gain instruction from what they
hear. We are always attracted to others by our
own interest, but in this case, it is of a higher
kind. Wise men frequent the houses of great
noblemen not because they are temples of vanity,
but as theatres of good breeding. There be
gentlemen who have the credit of worldly
wisdom, because they are not only themselves
oracles of all nobleness by their example and
their behavior, but those who surround them
form a well-bred academy of worldly wisdom of
the best and noblest kind. -- Baltasar Gracian
-- Translated by JOSEPH JACOBS

How can we best use these words of a man who lived in the 17th Century?
Over the next few days and weeks, we will be consuming more and more online content -- It's unavoidable for some.
We may not be able to be near those that foster our growth.  We may need to be a source of strength to those who need it - thereby forsaking our own. 
This unique time will bring out the best and the worst of all of us.
It is my hope that we can help each other to 'keep it together' for the sake of ourselves and those around us.
No matter who you are -- someone looks up to you and depends on your nature to be steadfast in times of trouble.

We must think of each other in the days to come.
We must Love One Another.

I love all of you.