- English translation
Asked why it kept making off with soap, the crow replied, "I can't help it; spite is simply how I'm made."
- Literal wording
They said to the crow: "Why do you steal the soap?" It said: "Doing harm is in my nature."
- Meaning and lesson
The saying portrays a crow that steals soap, an object it can neither eat nor wash with. When challenged, the bird offers no practical reason and simply admits that causing harm is part of its makeup. The theft is pointless except as an expression of the crow's character.
Applied to people, the image targets someone whose deliberate mischief toward others brings them no real benefit. Such a person harms out of temperament, not need, calculation or accident. The proverb suggests that reasoning with them about motives is futile, because the habit is rooted in disposition rather than in any goal.
- When it is used
Use it, usually wryly or critically, about someone who keeps hurting or inconveniencing others for no evident gain. It implies the habit is ingrained rather than accidental, so it reads as a pointed judgment of character.
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- Colloquial Arabic
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: Asked why it kept making off with soap, the crow replied, "I can't help it; spite is simply how I'm made."