- English translation
Don't buy on what it might turn into, or on what it used to be.
- Literal wording
Do not take the one that will become, nor the one that was.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying warns a buyer of livestock against two kinds of sales pitch. One promises that a weak or sick animal will turn good once it is treated and fed; the other praises an old animal for the strength it had years ago. Both ask you to pay for something you cannot see right now.
Its positive advice is to choose what is already young, healthy, and strong at the moment of purchase. Value should rest on present condition, not on speculative recovery or faded reputation, since either kind of claim can leave the buyer carrying the cost of disappointment.
- When it is used
Fits moments of choosing what to buy, especially animals, when a seller leans on a hopeful forecast or on past glory. It reminds the buyer to judge present soundness and pick something young and healthy, not a project or a has-been.
- Register
- Colloquial Arabic
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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