"He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed."

-Proverbs 13:20

I can agree to a certain extent that this quote is true, but not in every case. It is better to be around smart and good people, whether they make you a better person is up to you. You can be around really troublesome and not the smartest people, but you should not let their actions influence you. You should do what is right everyday, you should not let anyone else's bad opinions change that. You cannot blame the people around you for everything you do that is wrong. You have to be responsible for yourself and your own actions. The most hanging out with a bad group of people can do is distract you or maybe influence you a little bit, but most of it would be your fault. You have control of your own actions, letting somebody else influence them is giving up on yourself. There may be bad people around you that you cannot distance yourself away from and they may or may not influence you. There is no excuse to do the wrong thing no matter who may think it is okay, listening to a group of bad people is different from just being around a group of bad people.