«اِلْعِيشْ مِنِ الْعِيشْ وِالدَّنَاوَه لِيشْ»

The saying observes that bread is simply bread: here عيش means bread as food, though elsewhere it can mean life. The loaf on another person's table is no finer than the one at home, so reaching for someone else's food can only be explained by a mean, grasping character.

It is aimed at a person of low spirit who will not rest content with his own share and keeps casting an eye on what others have. The fault lies in his pettiness. In Arabic the two halves rhyme on ʿīsh and līsh, giving the rebuke a crisp, memorable ring.

Said as a reproach to someone who eyes or helps himself to other people's food or belongings when his own is just as good. It targets petty greed, not real need; because it attacks character, aiming it at someone directly is pointed and can insult.