«اِلْعَدِيمْ مِنِ احْتَاجْ إِلَى لَئِيمْ»

The saying redefines poverty. Lacking money or possessions is not treated as the true mark of being destitute. A person reaches real want only when circumstances leave no option except seeking help from someone base: stingy, petty, and of low character all at once, and so deserving moral contempt rather than mere dislike.

The emphasis falls on dignity. Asking a decent person for aid is bearable, but depending on a base one invites humiliation and reproach. That indignity, not the empty purse, is pictured as the lowest point a person can reach.

Fits remarks about someone whom hardship has pushed into relying on a stingy or ignoble benefactor. It can also urge a person to endure scarcity rather than plead with such a person. The tone stresses humiliation and lost dignity more than material loss.