«اِلْجَعَانْ يِحْلَمْ بِسُوقِ الْعِيشْ»

A pressing need takes over a person's mind. Whatever someone cannot do without becomes the thing their thoughts keep circling, so thoroughly that it shapes even their sleep, the way an empty stomach conjures visions of a place piled with bread.

The hungry dreamer stands for anyone driven by necessity, and the bread market stands for whatever that person is compelled to seek. The point applies broadly: each individual is absorbed by their own urgent want. It describes preoccupation born of need, not idle fantasy or greed.

Use it when someone's mind keeps returning to a thing they urgently require, to remark that such necessity naturally dominates a person's thoughts, waking or sleeping, and crowds out other concerns.