- English translation
Eat a friend's bread and you bring him joy; eat a foe's bread and you bring him grief.
- Literal wording
Eat your beloved's bread, you gladden him; and eat your enemy's bread, you harm him.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying contrasts two hosts. When you eat the food of someone dear to you, a friend or loved one, your appetite becomes his pleasure, because generosity toward a friend feels like a gift to oneself. The same act of eating means something different depending on who provides the bread.
At an enemy's table, every bite registers as a loss to him. The harm is his displeasure at losing food, not injury the eater intends. He resents seeing his provisions consumed by someone he dislikes. Hospitality thus reveals the feeling behind a relationship: affection as gladness, hostility as grudging pain.
- When it is used
Fits situations involving shared food or hospitality. It can reassure a hesitant guest that a true friend gives gladly, or mark someone's grudging attitude toward what they give. It can also serve as a quiet test of whether a host is friend or foe.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: Eat a friend's bread and you bring him joy; eat a foe's bread and you bring him grief.