«السَّجَرَهْ اللِّي تْضَلِّلْ عَلِيكْ مَا تِدْعِيشْ عَلِيهَا بِالْقَطْعْ»

The saying warns against turning on whatever protects or provides for you. Its verb means calling down harm, as in a curse or ill wish, and the image is of felling the tree outright, not pruning it. Someone who benefits from another's care, generosity, or position should not wish that support destroyed, since losing it would leave them exposed.

More broadly, it counsels gratitude and self-interest working together. Resentment toward a benefactor, an institution, or a livelihood may feel justified in the moment, yet working for its downfall is shortsighted. The wise course is to protect what sustains you rather than undermine it.

A colloquial saying, not a formal literary one, suited to gently rebuking someone who grumbles against or schemes to undermine a patron, employer, relative, or arrangement that actually sustains them. It reminds the listener that harming a source of support ultimately harms themselves.