- English translation
You used to sleep among goat kids; now you have a place from which to look out over the neighbors.
- Literal wording
After your sleeping with the young goats, you have gained a lookout over the neighbors.
- Meaning and lesson
The proverb rebukes a person whose circumstances have risen while their conduct remains base. Material improvement or higher standing, it says, does not by itself bring better manners, restraint, or honorable character.
Its contrast between sleeping with goats and gaining an elevated outlook makes advancement a moral test. The image is condemnatory: the new vantage point is used to intrude on neighboring women’s privacy, implying that old coarseness persists despite changed fortune.
- When it is used
Used critically of someone who gains comfort, wealth, or status but continues to behave crudely or without regard for others. Its original image specifically condemns using a newly gained position to pry on neighbors, especially their women, rather than treating social advancement as a neutral subject.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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