- English translation
If someone gives you up, give them up in turn. Friendship lasts only as long as fate allows.
- Literal wording
Whoever sells you, sell him; and companionship is an allotted share.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying advises answering abandonment in kind. Here "selling" someone is figurative, meaning to give them up or treat them as expendable. When a companion lets you go so easily, you owe them no further pursuit. You may release them just as readily and keep your dignity, without seeking revenge.
The closing phrase offers consolation. It presents companionship, not the number ten, as a destined portion or lot rather than mere luck: granted for a time, then withdrawn. Losing such a companion therefore calls for resigned acceptance rather than prolonged grief or self-blame over what might have been.
- When it is used
Use it to comfort someone hurt by a friend's coldness or desertion, or to defend your own choice to stop pursuing a bond the other person has already dropped. The tone is resigned self-respect: quiet withdrawal, not bitterness, revenge, or active harm.
- Register
- colloquial, proverbial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: If someone gives you up, give them up in turn. Friendship lasts only as long as fate allows.