This verse belongs to the YHWH run, Proverbs 16:1–9. A famously comforting saying, and a famously misapplied one.
Quick answer
A life that pleases the LORD tends to disarm hostility, and the LORD Himself is at work in the tendency. A real pattern, not a peace guarantee, and the proof is that the only Man whose ways fully pleased the LORD was crucified.
Read both lines
The pattern is real and observable: a person of unbudging integrity gives slander nothing to feed on, consistency wears suspicion down, and the soft answer turns away wrath one conversation at a time (15:1). Scripture shows the LORD standing behind such reconciliations: Jacob dreading Esau and finding an embrace, Saul weeping at David's voice after the cave. He bends hostility toward peace in ways no strategy could manufacture.
What it does not mean
Read as a contract, this verse breaks on the best life ever lived. Jesus' ways pleased the Father completely, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased", and His enemies did not make peace with Him; they made a cross for Him. He told His followers to expect the same arithmetic: "If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:20). So opposition in your life is not evidence that the LORD is displeased with you, and this verse must never be used to audit a suffering believer. Proverbs states tendencies, not terms. Faithfulness tends to quiet enemies; sometimes, in a world that hated perfect goodness, it draws fire instead.
Related: Genesis 33:4 · 1 Samuel 24:16–19 · Romans 12:18 · John 15:18–20
New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. Full copyright information. Scripture provided by API.Bible.
Go Deeper
If this verse has been used to put weight on you that it was never carrying, ask about it directly.