Franklin’s saying contrasts professional skill in law with the qualities that help people live together peacefully. A good lawyer may know how to identify rights, challenge claims and pursue disputes effectively. Applied too readily to ordinary relationships, however, the same habits can encourage argument and make accommodation more difficult.

The quotation does not necessarily condemn lawyers or the use of law. Rather, it points to a difference between what succeeds in legal conflict and what sustains good relations between neighbours. Everyday coexistence often depends on tolerance, compromise and a willingness not to press every possible grievance. Someone who treats each disagreement as a matter to be contested may be legally capable yet socially difficult to live beside. The broader lesson is that asserting one’s rights and maintaining harmonious relationships are not always the same objective, and sound judgement involves knowing when formal remedies are necessary and when cooperation is preferable.