Dhammapada verse 207
Chapter 15, Happiness (Sukhavagga) · verses 197–208
“For one who consorts with fools grieves long. Painful is living with fools, like being stuck with your enemy. Happy is living with an attentive one, like meeting with your kin.”
Bālasaṅgatacārī hi, dīghamaddhāna socati; Dukkho bālehi saṁvāso, amitteneva sabbadā; Dhīro ca sukhasaṁvāso, ñātīnaṁva samāgamo.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 207 mean?
Verse 207 belongs to chapter 15, Happiness (Sukhavagga), which gathers verses 197–208 on happiness. It is filed under wisdom & folly, happiness, suffering & grief. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 206 and verse 208 are part of the same passage.
Twelve verses on happiness, and on where it is said to come from. The chapter is explicit that the happiness it means is not the happiness of acquisition: it is the happiness of one who has given up, who is free of fever, and it repeatedly sets that against the delight of people who are still tied to what they cling to.
More verses on this