- English translation
When your brother’s house comes down, make sure you take a brick for yourself.
- Literal wording
If your brother’s house is demolished, take a brick from it.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying expresses a harshly opportunistic attitude: once property is ruined and being picked over, a person should secure some share rather than leave empty-handed.
Its own advice is plain: when goods are being plundered and shared out, do not leave yourself out, even if they belong to the person closest to you, because they are going anyway. The saying is recorded here as a traditional view, not offered as advice.
- When it is used
Use it to criticize or describe someone who grabs a small benefit from another person’s misfortune, especially when they excuse it by saying that everything will be taken anyway. Its cynical, morally severe tone can sound accusatory when directed at someone personally.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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