Don't tell me that all virtues start weak and grow stronger over time. I already know that. Even shallow things like status, reputation for speaking well, and anything else meant to impress others get more powerful with practice. Both the virtues that truly make us strong and the ones that just make us look good need years to become part of who we are. But I'm afraid that habit, which makes most things stick, is driving this flaw deeper into me. When you spend a long time around both good and bad people, you start to see them all as the same.
It is of no use for you to tell me that all virtues are weakly at the outset, and that they acquire strength and solidity by time, for I am well aware that even those which do but help our outward show, such as grandeur, a reputation for eloquence, and everything that appeals to others, gain power by time. Both those which afford us real strength and those which do but trick us out in a more attractive form, require long years before they gradually are adapted to us by time. But I fear that custom, which confirms most things, implants this vice more and more deeply in me. Long acquaintance with both good and bad people leads one to esteem them all alike.