- English translation
When people told the blind man to dress up his cane, he answered: 'What, do you think I carry it because I'm fond of it?'
- Literal wording
They said to the blind man, 'Decorate your stick.' He said, 'Meaning, out of my love for it?'
- Meaning and lesson
Some things stay at our side only because we cannot do without them. A blind man holds his cane all day, yet that closeness comes from need, not fondness. Asking him to adorn or prettify it, not merely repair it, assumes an affection he does not feel, and his sarcastic retort exposes that mistaken assumption.
More broadly, the saying answers anyone who expects devotion or extra care toward a burden one merely tolerates. Dependence is not attachment, and people rarely spend effort embellishing what they would drop if they could. The sharp point belongs to the blind speaker; the saying does not mock blindness.
- When it is used
Use it when someone is urged to beautify or fuss over something they only put up with out of need: a forced job, a stopgap arrangement, an unwanted obligation. It suits wry, informal replies that dismissively reject a suggestion misreading one's motives, without ridiculing blind people.
- Register
- Colloquial, vernacular proverb
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: When people told the blind man to dress up his cane, he answered: 'What, do you think I carry it because I'm fond of it?'