«مِنْ وَفَّرْ شِيءْ قَالْ لُهْ الزَّمَانْ: هَاتُهْ»

Whatever a person puts aside and keeps back does not remain theirs for good. Sooner or later the course of events, pictured here as Time with a voice of its own, arrives and lays claim to that very thing, so the reserve is eventually taken from its keeper.

The force of the line lies in its personification: Time does not wear the hoard away quietly but addresses its owner directly and orders it handed over. The emphasis falls on this act of reclaiming, not on any advantage the saver gains from having stored something up.

Fitting when a carefully kept reserve ends up being called in by circumstances, as a wry remark that what one holds back is eventually claimed. It should not be offered as encouragement to save or as praise of a thrifty person.