- English translation
Someone living off another person’s money is never satisfied.
- Literal wording
Whoever eats for free does not get full.
- Meaning and lesson
The proverb says that a person who benefits without paying from their own resources may not feel content. Having no personal cost can lead them to continue taking or asking for more than they have already received.
It expresses the idea that spending or consuming at another person’s expense can weaken a sense of limit. The image of eating without becoming full conveys continuing demands rather than satisfaction with what is available.
- When it is used
Use it to criticize a person who continues consuming, requesting, or spending when the cost is borne by someone else. It suits a complaint or warning about demands that keep growing because the person making them does not pay.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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