«ضَيَّعِ الاِسْمْ بِالصَّنْعَهْ»

The saying fits someone whose character blends the commendable with the shameful. Whatever good attaches to that person, pictured here as their name, goes to waste because it arrives bundled with something unworthy that spoils the overall impression.

The Arabic pits two nouns against each other: the name, and الصنعة, which may mean a craft or, more broadly, what a person makes or does. On either reading, a fine label is undone by what stands behind it, and the credit it might have earned is lost.

Apply it to a person in whom good and bad traits coexist, especially when the unworthy side cancels the credit the worthy side would otherwise earn. It serves as a brief verdict on such a mixed character.