There is a difference between mere brightness and real light!
Seneca - Letters from a Stoic pg.31
The difference between mere brightness and real light
Is that, the latter has a source within itself
the former merely borrows
Just Like the Sun and the Moon
Sun is the source
Moon mere has luminescence -borrows light
Now if someone comes between the Source and the Borrower
Turns borrowed light into mere shadow!
So have a glow from within-
Make your own studies and
That shall make you shine and glow
Even when there is gloominess all around!
It is your own studies that will make you shine and render you eminent!
This can also be linked to : following the crowd vs Charting your course:
Put aside the opinion of the World. It is always wavering and taking both sides - Seneca
Thoreau says :
Public opinion is a weak tyrant against our own private opinion!