«اِلْقَعْدَه تْحِب، وِالْعَلْقَه تْدِب»

The saying admits that idleness is pleasant: sitting still and resting is loved by everyone. It then answers that pleasure with a round of punishing blows, which sends a person stirring into the work they had put off. The contrast warns that comfort chosen over duty comes with a price.

In practice the proverb criticizes laziness and urges people to stay alert to its consequences. It suggests that people who drift into ease are often roused only by pain. It is wiser to get moving willingly before reprimand or hardship forces the effort.

Use it to scold someone who keeps putting off work, or to remind yourself of what neglect will cost. It suits informal warnings in which comfort now is set against a painful reckoning later. Its imagery of physical punishment may sound harsh to some listeners.