- English translation
If it weren't for my neighbor, I'd have burst with bitterness.
- Literal wording
Were it not for my neighbor, my gallbladder would have burst.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying credits a nearby friend with keeping the speaker from being consumed by suppressed fury and heartache. Without someone to listen and console, the pent-up bitterness would have grown unbearable. The burst gallbladder is a figure for that overwhelming anger and bottled-up grief, a kind of death from sheer vexation.
More broadly, it expresses how much a sympathetic companion matters when troubles pile up. Venting to someone who shares one's burden releases pressure that would otherwise become destructive. The neighbor stands for the everyday, close-at-hand support that makes hardship survivable.
- When it is used
Said when thanking someone close at hand, typically a neighbor or confidant, whose sympathetic ear let the speaker pour out troubles and survive a period of intense frustration or sorrow. The tone is grateful and a little dramatic.
- Register
- colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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