Of evil grain no good seed can come.

The saying argues that a corrupt or harmful beginning is unlikely to produce a sound result. It treats later consequences as growing out of the moral quality, character, or condition of what first generated them.

It can warn against expecting virtue from vicious conduct, reliable outcomes from flawed materials, or healthy institutions from corrupt foundations. Its emphatic, deterministic imagery can sound condemnatory when applied to people or their backgrounds, and should not deny the possibility of reform or change.

Use it as a caution that bad practices, motives, or foundations tend to yield damaging results. It suits moral or institutional criticism, but its absolute wording can overstate inevitability and may unfairly judge people by their background or character.