- English translation
If you toy with a cat, expect to be scratched.
- Literal wording
Whoever plays with the cat will not escape its scratches.
- Meaning and lesson
Choosing to engage with someone or something known to be harmful means accepting the likelihood of being hurt. The saying warns that foreseeable danger is not erased simply because one approaches it casually or playfully.
Its image is figurative: the cat’s scratches stand for harm expected from a recognized source of danger. It can place responsibility on someone who voluntarily enters a risky situation, treating the result as predictable rather than surprising.
- When it is used
Use this as a caution against provoking a volatile person, meddling in a hazardous matter, or deliberately taking up a risk whose damaging consequences are easy to foresee. It suits advice given before harm occurs or a sober comment afterward.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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