«اِلْمَيِّدِي الْأَبْيَضْ يِنْفَعْ فِي النَّهَارْ الِاسْوِدْ»

Money put aside in good times is what carries a person through misfortune. The saying urges restraint in spending while things go well, so that a reserve exists when sudden need, loss or hardship arrives and other help may not. It commends prudent saving, not hoarding or greed.

The Arabic sets a white maydi, the name of a kind of coin, against a black day, meaning a time of trouble rather than a literal date or night. The brightness of the kept coin answers the darkness of hardship, so the colors carry the lesson that a small stored good can offset coming trouble.

Suited to advice about thrift and foresight: urging someone to set aside part of their earnings, defending a habit of saving, or remarking on how kept money rescued a household when work, health or harvest failed, without praising hoarding or greed.