«اِلطَّبْعْ وِالرُّوحْ فِي جَسَدْ»

The proverb holds that a person's basic disposition is as much a part of them as life itself. Temperament is pictured as sharing one body with the soul, so the two stay bound together and cannot be pulled apart while the person lives.

In practice it expresses doubt that anyone truly reforms their nature. Behavior may be restrained for a while, but the inborn character persists and resurfaces, and it is expected to depart only when the soul does, at death. Some speakers append a closing clause that states this link to death explicitly.

Say it when someone's habit or character flaw keeps returning despite promises, advice, or punishment, to express resignation that this is simply who they are. It suits informal talk about family, neighbors, or acquaintances more than formal argument. Applied to a specific person, it can sound dismissive or fatalistic.