- English translation
They gave her plenty, yet she never felt rich. She still went about begging, "Lady, spare me a crust of bread!"
- Literal wording
They made her rich, but she did not become rich; she said: "O my lady, a dry crust!"
- Meaning and lesson
The saying sketches a woman who was made rich enough to live without asking anyone for anything, yet she kept begging a lady of the house for a hard, dry piece of bread, the humblest of alms. Material plenty did not change her habits or her sense of lack.
The broader lesson is that true wealth lives in the spirit, not in possessions. A person with a hungry, grasping soul stays poor however much they receive. The target is an inner disposition, not poverty itself, so it gives no grounds for mocking those genuinely in need.
- When it is used
Use it of someone whose circumstances have clearly improved yet who keeps grasping, begging, or complaining as if destitute. It criticizes an ingrained habit of neediness, not genuine poverty, and should not be aimed at people in real want.
- Register
- Colloquial Arabic
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: They gave her plenty, yet she never felt rich. She still went about begging, "Lady, spare me a crust of bread!"