jimmy630

I'm going to guess by the context of the story I read it in, it means something like don't diminish
yourself by stooping down to someone else's level. Like if someone is a smart ass to you, you don't
have to be a smart ass back, which would lower your character to that persons level.

It took me about a month to learn the Thai alphabet from a book. After 2 years of one to one lessons with a Thai teacher.

I am convinced that anyone over 40 needs to learn the written language to achieve good spoken Thai.