- English translation
When they could find nothing wrong with the rose, they jeered at it for its red cheeks.
- Literal wording
They did not find a flaw in the rose, so they said: 'O you with the red cheeks!'
- Meaning and lesson
The saying pictures critics who examine a rose, search for something wrong with it, and come up empty. Unwilling to admit it is flawless, they seize on its red color, the very feature that makes it lovely, and turn what sounds like a compliment into a mocking jibe.
More broadly, it exposes faultfinding driven by envy or spite rather than honest judgment. When people are set on disparaging someone or something excellent, not merely beautiful, and cannot find a genuine weakness, they will twist a virtue into a supposed defect just to have something to complain about.
- When it is used
Use when someone criticizes a person or achievement that is plainly good, especially when the complaint targets the very quality that makes it admirable. It suits sympathetic remarks to the person being picked on, or wry comments about envious, hard-to-please critics.
- Register
- Colloquial Arabic
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: When they could find nothing wrong with the rose, they jeered at it for its red cheeks.