- English translation
If something is bound to be lost, it is better for it to fall to a lion than to a dog.
- Literal wording
What the lion eats and makes pure is better than what the dog eats and makes impure.
- Meaning and lesson
When property taken without right cannot be regained, the proverb offers bitter consolation: the loss remains painful, but it is presented as less humiliating if the eventual holder is regarded as honorable rather than contemptible.
Historically linked to a poetic image of being consumed by a worthy rather than an unworthy devourer, it shifts attention from recovery to the loss's final destination. Its contrast draws on traditional ideas of purity, impurity, and social rank, not literal claims about animals or an endorsement of such rankings.
- When it is used
Use it about wrongly taken property when return seems impossible, to say that an unavoidable loss may feel less degrading depending on who ends up with it. It can sound harsh or judgmental because it contrasts people as honorable or contemptible, so use it with care.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: If something is bound to be lost, it is better for it to fall to a lion than to a dog.