A crystal takes on the color of the cloth upon which it is placed, whether white, yellow, red or black. Likwise, the people with whom you spend your time whether their influence is good or bad, will make a huge difference to the direction your life and practice take. Spending your time with true spiritual friends will fill you with love for all beings and help you to see how negative attachment and hatred are. Being with such friends, and following their example, will naturally imbue you with their good qualities, just as all the birds flying around a golden mountain are bathed in its golden radiance.
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
quoted in the book “In the Presence of Masters: Wisdom from 30 Contemporary Tibetan Buddhist Teachers”