«اِلْفَقْرِ خْزَامِ الْعَتْرِيسْ»

Want breaks pride. However overbearing a person may be, hardship brings them under control, much as the khuzam, a ring threaded through a strong camel's nose, forces even the most powerful animal to submit. The image is of compelled obedience, not ornament.

The 'atris is a bully or strongman, not someone merely strong or brave; a variant uses 'antiz with the same sense. The proverb suggests a tyrant's force often rests on resources, and that without them even the fiercest grows docile.

Fits remarks about a once-arrogant or domineering person whose loss of money has made them meek, or as a general warning that wealth-based swagger cannot survive hardship. Aimed at a specific individual, it can sound mocking or reproachful.