- English translation
If everyone saw things alike, no merchandise would ever find a buyer.
- Literal wording
Were it not for the differing of the view, the goods would have lain unsold.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying links the movement of goods to the fact that people do not all regard them the same way. Because one person's assessment differs from another's, wares that some reject are wanted by others. Without that variety of view, merchandise would stay on hand, finding no one to take it.
The key word can mean either opinion and judgment or the act of looking over and appraising an item. Either sense leads to the same point: divergent assessment is what keeps trade going, and the proverb frames that divergence as a condition of commerce, not as a fault.
- When it is used
Suited to remarks on how differently people assess the same thing, particularly in buying and selling, where it explains why goods one person turns down can still appeal to another and find a buyer.
- Register
- Proverbial, in classical (fasih) Arabic wording
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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