Literal translation
Happy is he who can do without his neighbour.
Meaning
happy is he who can do without his neighbour
Explanation
The proverb praises independence from one's neighbourhood, in a village society where the neighbour, despite constant proximity, is not always a source of good. To do without someone, here one's vesin, means needing nothing from him: no favour, no mediation, no recourse in times of difficulty. The phrase quau poù, who can, introduces a rarely fulfilled condition, which makes the happiness described exceptional: few people truly escape some dependence on those around them. The saying belongs to a vein of practical wisdom about neighbourly relations, close at hand and yet a potential source of conflict, favours owed, or boundary disputes. It is said in ordinary register, sometimes with a slightly resigned smile, to acknowledge someone's luck in never having had a difficult neighbour, or conversely to underline, by contrast, how much one depends on one's own.