- English translation
I had settled for my old troubles, but this new one has only made me sicker.
- Literal wording
I was content with the old worry; the new one came to me and added to my ailments.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying expresses the bitter realization that a difficulty once resented was actually tolerable. A person who grumbled about an existing hardship now faces a fresh and heavier one, and only in hindsight does the old trouble look like something they had quietly made peace with.
It works as a lament about compounding misfortune and a gentle warning against assuming things cannot get worse. The speaker admits they would gladly return to the earlier worry, since the new affliction has only deepened their suffering rather than replacing it. The ailments it names may be literal but usually stand for piled-up troubles.
- When it is used
Use it when someone who was already complaining about one problem is hit by a worse one, making the earlier burden seem bearable by comparison. It suits rueful, self-pitying remarks about one's own luck or sympathetic comments about another's.
- Register
- Colloquial Arabic, rhymed proverbial saying
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: I had settled for my old troubles, but this new one has only made me sicker.