Indeed, we do not really live unless we have friends surrounding us like a firm wall against the winds of the world.

There was hostility surrounding doing my job.

But these vague whisperings may arise from Mr. Snagsby's being, in his way, rather a meditative and poetical man; loving to walk in Staple Inn in the summer time; and to observe how countrified the sparrows and the leaves are... and to remark (if in good spirits) that there were old times once, and that you'd find a stone coffin or two, now, under that chapel, he'd be bound, if you was to dig for it.

Surrounding yourself with dwarfs does not make you a giant

The race advances only by the extra achievements of the individual. You are the individual.

I have very good friends on Wall Street.