- English translation
Prepare your food with the utensils you have yourself.
- Literal wording
Mash your beans in your own cooking pot.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying advises self-reliance in ordinary practical matters. Its image is of preparing beans in one’s own earthen vessel: having one’s own basic tools and provisions reduces dependence on others and the obligations that can accompany borrowing.
It may also mean that a person is free to do as they wish with what is their own. By contrast, using another person’s belongings can bring blame if they are damaged, neglected, or treated carelessly.
- When it is used
Use it to encourage someone to rely on their own equipment or means rather than borrow what they cannot freely manage. It can also gently remind a borrower to respect an owner’s property and avoid giving cause for reproach.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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