Dhammapada verse 210
Chapter 16, The Beloved (Piyavagga) · verses 209–220
“Don’t ever get too close to those you like or dislike. For not seeing the liked is suffering, and so is seeing the disliked.”
Mā piyehi samāgañchi, appiyehi kudācanaṁ; Piyānaṁ adassanaṁ dukkhaṁ, appiyānañca dassanaṁ.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 210 mean?
Verse 210 belongs to chapter 16, The Beloved (Piyavagga), which gathers verses 209–220 on the beloved, and the grief that follows. It is filed under suffering & grief. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 209 and verse 211 are part of the same passage.
Twelve verses on the beloved, and this is the chapter that explains grief. Its argument is that sorrow follows from affection — the one you love, the thing you cannot lose — and it does not tell the reader to love less so much as to see what they have taken on. Verses 209–211 are the ones most often quoted.
More verses on this