- English translation
Once you've burned my harvest, we are no longer neighbors.
- Literal wording
There is no neighborliness after the burning of the crops.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying asserts that some injuries are too deep to forgive. The burned crops stand for a household's food and livelihood, so the image is of ruinous harm, not ordinary damage. Once a person has destroyed what others depend on to live, no neighborliness remains: the bond of trust and mutual care is gone, and pretending otherwise would be hollow.
It is applied to situations where hostility or damage has gone so far that reconciliation is no longer realistic. The speaker is declaring a final break, marking the offense as the point after which goodwill cannot be restored.
- When it is used
Use when someone has done such grave harm to another's livelihood or well-being that any return to friendly or neighborly relations is out of the question, for example when explaining why a rift between families or neighbors cannot be patched up.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: Once you've burned my harvest, we are no longer neighbors.