«اِللِّي يْخَافْ مِنِ الْقِرْدْ يِرْكَبُهْ»

Openly showing fear can encourage others to treat a person with contempt or press against them more boldly. The proverb portrays timidity as something that may invite disrespect and make another party more daring.

The image carries an ironic reversal: a monkey is hardly a fearsome beast, yet the person who shrinks from it ends up carrying it on their shoulders like a mount. The other party's daring springs less from its own strength than from the weakness it sees in the fearful one.

Used as a warning or reproach when someone's visible fear is believed to encourage a troublesome person to become bolder or more disrespectful. It can urge someone to hold their ground rather than appear intimidated.