As long as I don't get too close

I have never heard of this gentleman, a comedian, Dick Gregory. However, he has a great aphorism. Dick Gregory is African-American:

Down South they don't care how close I am as long as I don't get too big, and up North they don't care how big I am as long as I don't get too close.

Like all good aphorisms, it isn't so much whether you agree as that the word play causes you to think and in thinking perhaps coming to some new insight. Sometimes, you can spin the phrase around many times, ending up with different conclusions each time.