- English translation
You who carry everyone else's troubles, who is left to carry yours?
- Literal wording
O carrier of the people's worry, to whom have you left your own worry?
- Meaning and lesson
The saying addresses a person so absorbed in other people's problems that their own matters go untended. Its question points out that while this person shoulders everyone's concerns, nobody is standing by to carry theirs in return, so their own burdens are simply abandoned.
Beneath the question lies a caution about misplaced priorities. Caring for others is not condemned outright, but neglecting oneself in the process is shown as a kind of folly, since one's own affairs remain one's own duty and will not be managed by anyone else.
- When it is used
Aim it at someone who keeps solving friends' and neighbours' problems while their own affairs pile up. It works as a pointed rhetorical question, a gentle nudge to redirect some of that energy toward personal responsibilities before they are lost.
- Register
- colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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