"If, in your course, you don't meet

your equal, your better,

then continue your course,

firmly, alone.

There's no fellowship with fools."

[Dhp 61, Thanissaro Bhikkhu]

I am very new to Buddhism, and everything I've read on this sub or through other resources has been simultaneously blowing my spiritual mind and healing a lot of problems I've been unable to deal with up 'til now. I am so grateful!

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But this verse is throwing me off. I'm sure I must be mistaken, but at first I saw this as encouraging us to compare ourselves to other people, and in a very pretentious way too. What constitutes a "fool?" Are we to only talk to other Buddhists? I attend a college famous for its rowdy drinking culture. Are my friends and roommates "fools" for having a set of standards for themselves that, although different from mine, don't harm me in the slightest?