«مِنْ أَعْطَى سِرُّهْ لِامْرَاتُهْ يَا طُولْ عَذَابُهْ وِشَتَاتُهْ»

The proverb warns a man that confiding his private affairs to his wife will bring him lasting trouble. Once the secret leaves his keeping, he can expect prolonged suffering and a life thrown into confusion, because the matter is no longer under his control.

Beneath the warning lies a wider point about discretion: keep sensitive matters to yourself rather than entrusting them to someone who might let them slip. The saying makes that point by singling out the wife as the risky confidant, a gendered generalization about who can be trusted that should not be presented as sound advice.

Spoken as a warning to a man about to confide something sensitive to his wife, or as a pointed remark once a shared secret has led to trouble. Its force is blunt and admonitory, and its gendered premise can easily give offense.