A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company.

Hughes’s remark frames conscience as a person’s most inescapable companion: whatever one gains publicly—status, wealth, applause—one must still “live with” one’s own character in private. The counsel to keep “good company” is therefore inward rather than social: cultivate integrity, self-respect, and habits that make solitude bearable. The line also reflects a civic-minded moralism often associated with early 20th‑century American public life, where personal rectitude was treated as the foundation of trustworthy leadership. Its enduring appeal lies in turning the familiar warning about bad influences outwardly into a stricter standard applied to the self.