Ridicule is one of the favorite weapons of wickedness, and it is sometimes incomprehensible how good and brave boys will be influenced for evil by the jeers of associates who have no one quality that calls for respect, but who affect to laugh at the very traits which ought to be peculiarly the cause for pride.
In an essay on the strenuous life, Roosevelt laments how good boys can be swayed by the ridicule of unworthy peers.
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