- English translation
"Why does he keep the good stuff for his favorites?" "Everything comes at its proper price," he replied.
- Literal wording
He brings the nice thing to his loved ones. He said: everything goes by its reckoning.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying answers a charge of favoritism, framed as a question and a retort. Someone is asked why they keep the good things, meaning items of nice quality, for a chosen circle, and the reply is that this is not personal bias. Those favored people simply pay what the goods are worth, so the better treatment follows.
The principle is that treatment matches what a person brings to the deal; the reckoning here is payment or fair return, not fate or divine accounting. Preference grows from proper payment, not affection alone. Anyone who acted the same way would be dealt with the same way, so the complaint mistakes fair dealing for partiality.
- When it is used
Use when someone is criticized for giving better goods, service or attention to certain people, and the answer is that those people pay or give back fully. Anyone offering the same return would receive equal treatment.
- Register
- Colloquial, in a dialogue form of question and retort
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: "Why does he keep the good stuff for his favorites?" "Everything comes at its proper price," he replied.