«زَي ضَرَّابِينِ الطُّوبْ يِعِد بِالْأَلَفَاتْ وِيْنَامْ عَلَى الأَبْرَاشْ»

Brickmakers, who mold mud bricks, reckon their output by the thousands, yet at night they lie down on plain mats plaited from palm fronds. The picture sets the huge numbers of their working day against the bareness of their own poor living conditions.

Applied to people, the saying describes someone whose days are spent among large counts while his personal circumstances remain poor. It draws attention to the gap between the abundance passing through one's tally and the humble place where one sleeps.

Apply it to a person whose daily work involves counting great quantities while his own living stays modest, to highlight the distance between the large figures he deals with and the plain bed he returns to.