«مِنْ كَانِتْ هِمِّتُهْ بَطْنُهْ قِيمْتُهْ مَا خَرَجْ مِنْهَا»

The saying mocks a person whose whole drive in life is filling the stomach. Since such a person aims at nothing higher than food, the proverb bluntly rates him no better than the waste his body discards, implying that his worth is effectively nil.

More broadly, it holds that people are measured by what they strive for. Low appetites produce low standing, while worth comes from aiming beyond mere consumption. In Arabic, the paired words himmituh and qīmituh echo each other, giving the line a tight rhyming snap.

Suited to scornful comment on someone who seems to care for nothing beyond eating. Its crude reference to bodily waste makes it coarse and insulting; aimed at someone present, it is a sharp personal put-down, better kept to blunt, informal talk than polite company.