- English translation
Reaching into someone else's purse feels like scooping from a sand dune.
- Literal wording
A strike into a purse other than yours is as though it were into a hill of sand.
- Meaning and lesson
The proverb mocks how lightly people handle wealth that belongs to someone else. A hand dipping into another person's purse senses nothing of the value it touches, much as striking a mound of sand gives no feeling of handling anything precious.
The unstated contrast is with one's own purse. When the money is yours, you know what it holds and what it is worth. The saying therefore exposes how easy it is to be careless or generous with resources that are not one's own. Its masculine singular "you" is generic and applies to anyone.
- When it is used
Say it when someone spends lavishly from funds they did not earn, such as a relative's money, an employer's budget, or shared resources. It works as a dry rebuke or a wry observation about generosity that costs the giver nothing.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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