Arabic proverbs

In the year everything grew too costly, we forgot all about keeping the leaven.

The speaker accounts for a forgotten leaven by pointing to a year of high prices, not famine as such. Because costs had risen so far, the household gave up kneading dough, and with no kneading taking place, the leaven that goes with that task slipped from mind.

No one can expose a person whom God protects.

The proverb affirms that divine protection can preserve a person from public exposure or disgrace, beyond the power of any other being to prevent.

The mill's clapper keeps clattering, but the millstone never turns.

The saying draws on the working parts of a mill. The raqqas, a wooden piece of the mill, knocks and clatters noisily, yet the heavy grinding stone stays motionless. All the sound suggests a mill hard at work, but nothing is actually being ground, so the outward signs of activity turn out to be empty.

High prices are dead and gone.

The saying treats a spell of expensive living as something that has finally perished. It refers to prices, not to the death of a person, and is said once prices have fallen and the hard season of costly goods is over.

I taught him how to steal, and the first thing he did was slip his hand into my own clothes.

The saying captures the bitter irony of passing on a skill only to become its first victim. A teacher shows someone how to steal, and the pupil's opening move is to reach into the teacher's own clothing. Ingratitude is the core charge: the beneficiary repays instruction by exploiting the person who gave it.

Work done by a master hand for someone dear to him.

The saying praises a task carried out with real mastery and care. It pictures an expert craftsman putting his full skill into something made for a person he loves, so nothing is skimped and every detail is attended to. The result is work of the highest quality.

Let the world go to ruin, as long as my own head stays whole.

The saying voices a narrow, self-protective outlook: the speaker's own survival is all that matters. Let the wider world crumble, so long as their own head, meaning their very self rather than just their wits, remains whole and unharmed. Personal safety becomes the only measure of whether things are well.

People once sowed 'tomorrow,' and nothing ever sprouted from it.

The saying pictures 'tomorrow' as a seed that people once put in the ground, only to find that it never broke the soil. Putting something off until the next day is shown as a planting that yields no harvest. The dialect negation means 'did not come up.'

Like a pot on the waterwheel, strung up by the neck and by the foot.

The image comes from the clay pots fixed around a waterwheel over a well. Each pot is lashed by a rope at the two handles near its mouth and again at the small knob on its base, so it stays firmly in place as the wheel turns, held tight at both ends.

Better a cooperative monkey than a gazelle that keeps running off.

The saying ranks willing cooperation above attractiveness. Something plain or even unappealing, symbolized by the monkey, earns preference when it is agreeable, compatible, or easy to get along with, while something lovely but skittish, like a gazelle that keeps bolting, offers little real benefit because it never stays within reach.

The groom gets the bride; the poor souls who did all the running get only the trouble.

The proverb draws on a wedding. The couple takes home the actual prize of the celebration, while the luckless ones who rushed about arranging it end up with nothing but misery and disappointment. The effort belongs to one group and the reward to another.

He who takes a full share at a funeral must join fully in the mourning.

The saying criticizes someone who accepts the benefits of a communal occasion but tries to avoid the duties expected in return. Taking generously creates an obligation to contribute when the group calls on one to do so.

Forgiving people are admirable.

The saying commends forgiveness by portraying people known for pardoning others in warmly favorable terms. Its focus is not on a particular offense, but on the esteem attached to a forgiving character.

Much of what gets said needs no reply.

The saying holds that a great deal of what people say is idle, careless, or empty, and so it does not deserve a reply. The word for 'half' works loosely, meaning a large share of talk rather than an exact fraction; treating such chatter as weighty only gives it importance it lacks.

You're so pleased with the present that you've forgotten what it will cost you.

The saying teases someone so taken with a gift that she overlooks the obligation it carries. The address is grammatically feminine, but the lesson applies to anyone. By custom, a present invites a return of comparable worth one day. The point is not that receiving gifts is wrong, but that delight should not hide the duty to reciprocate.

When told to crow, the rooster replied that each thing is best when its hour arrives.

The proverb answers a demand made at the wrong moment. Like the rooster, which crows at its own appointed hour, usually dawn, and not on command, a person may put off acting early because the action only fits when its time has come. The objection is to the timing, not the task.

Do not start quarrels when you are drunk.

The saying condemns quarrelling while drunk, when intoxication can impair judgment and control of speech or actions. It presents such conduct as unwise and likely to lead to harmful consequences.

Every person has an outfit that fits them well, and that same outfit looks off on anyone else.

The saying holds that each person has clothing that suits them: it looks good on its proper wearer and looks unbecoming on someone else. The garment is pictured as calling out to the one it belongs to, so the match seems to announce itself.

Dribs and drabs of water will never fill the waterskins.

Drawing water in small sips or trickles, a bit from one spot and a bit from another, will never fill waterskins. The image is of meager amounts taken up by hand or mouth, not of a mechanical siphon or pump. Such vessels are filled only from an abundant source, so piecemeal drawing leaves them empty however long one persists.

The co-wives' boat sails on, while the brothers' wives' boat is left adrift.

The saying sets two boats side by side: one carries women who share a husband, the other carries women married to brothers. The first keeps moving, while the second goes astray, so the brothers' wives are pictured as the pair whose relationship breaks down.

Only a bigger jinx can get the better of a jinx.

A person whose misfortune seems to rub off on everyone nearby cannot be held back by ordinary people. Only someone carrying an even heavier load of bad luck can stand up to such a figure and come out on top.

Trouble comes, more than from anywhere else, from the people we love.

Though phrased in absolute terms, the saying means that misfortune most often arrives from those closest to us. Its point is where harm usually originates, not a claim that strangers never cause any.

Stop swinging your hips; there's nothing on your waist worth showing off.

The speaker tells a woman to stop swaying and shimmying, because there is nothing at her waist to justify the display. The missing item is an ornamented belt hung with tassels, the finery that invites dancing; the jibe concerns this absent sash, not the body itself.

Be a dog for the night, and a lion by morning.

This traditional saying urges a person to accept even difficult or socially humble work if it leads to independence. It presents temporary hardship in earning a living as preferable to relying on others for basic needs.

A person who decides what to do with his own belongings commits no injustice.

The saying holds that an owner who makes decisions about his own possessions cannot be accused of injustice. Whatever he chooses to do with what is rightfully his, whether keeping, selling, or giving it away, lies within his rights and earns no blame.

When a base man reviles a noble one, the noble counts it a blessed day.

The saying holds that abuse from a contemptible person does no harm to someone of real worth. Instead, it confirms that worth. The noble one has no reason to take offense and can greet the insult as a sign of good fortune. The 'dewy' day is figurative: a fresh, auspicious day, not weather.

Whoever brings you the insult is the one who really insults you.

The saying moves the blame for a hurtful remark from whoever first said it to whoever chose to carry it. Words spoken out of earshot cannot wound; only the person who repeats them makes the insult reach its target, so the messenger becomes the true offender.

Better for a dog to go a bit hungry and rest than to eat its fill and wear itself out.

The saying holds that a modest share enjoyed in peace is worth more than plenty that costs constant strain, especially the strain of going out to hunt for one's living. Going a little short, not truly starving, is presented as a fair price for being left alone, while abundance won through exhausting effort is a poor bargain.

The sober are answerable for the drunk.

The saying holds that whoever is alert carries responsibility for whoever is not. The drunk and the sober stand for the inattentive and the alert. The saying is not mainly about alcohol, though its literal image may strike some listeners as blunt.

One who has what is highest pays no attention to what is below it.

The saying contrasts possession of something lofty with indifference toward lesser things. The moon figures what is held in high esteem, while the stars represent things that seem lower when set beside it.

No sooner is one job finished than the next is already lined up and waiting.

The saying captures the frustration of a task that never really ends. Just as someone completes one burden and hopes for a moment of rest, a fresh demand of the same kind steps forward and claims their effort all over again. The tone is wry exasperation, not hostility toward anyone.

Onions for a khamsa coin, or a khamsa coin for onions: it comes to the same thing.

The proverb says that reversing the order of two terms does not alter what they amount to. The contrast is only verbal: both formulations lead to the same practical conclusion.

Doing good never makes a person less; it only adds to the excellence they already have.

The saying denies that generosity or helpfulness ever costs the giver anything of real value. Whatever a kind act seems to take away in effort, means, or status, it does not leave the doer lessened in character or esteem.

Everyone is out hunting scraps for his own cat.

The image is of a person scouring around for cheap, low-grade meat scraps, the kind tossed to cats and dogs, to feed a household cat. Each person is pictured as hunting for the small thing that matters to their own little dependent, and no one else's.

Prepare your food with the utensils you have yourself.

The saying advises self-reliance in ordinary practical matters. Its image is of preparing beans in one’s own earthen vessel: having one’s own basic tools and provisions reduces dependence on others and the obligations that can accompany borrowing.

When a tyrant sleeps, he is doing his most pious work.

The saying claims, with bitter irony, that when a wrongdoer sleeps, his rest counts as worship. The religious term is used sarcastically, not as a literal claim about his piety: while unconscious, he cannot mistreat anyone, so his inactivity accomplishes more good than anything he does while awake.

Luck may bring you anything else, but taro takes watering and digging.

On its surface, the saying claims that luck decides how most things turn out, with one exception: taro. That crop is said to need constant watering and repeated digging of the soil, a deliberate exaggeration, not farming advice, that singles it out as a plant no amount of good fortune can raise.

Salim, whose company have you been keeping? Some sick soul must have passed it on to you.

The saying uses sickness as a figure for bad character, not literal disease. A person whose conduct was once sound is asked, rhetorically, which afflicted companion passed the ailment along, implying that the change did not arise from within but was caught through close association with someone already morally unwell.

How could a donkey know how to eat ginger?

The image is of a donkey presented with ginger, a food it has never encountered and has no idea how to handle. The proverb applies this picture to a person who takes on something lying well outside what they know.

You may die tomorrow, you proud man in fine clothes—and then I will put a grand dome over your tomb.

This saying derides a vain, self-important person who takes pride in outward display. It invokes death as the great equalizer, making finery and social pretension seem fleeting and absurd. Its robe imagery mocks conspicuous dress, not any particular occupation or social group.

Trying to make money without any money is like carrying water in a sieve.

The saying holds that making money requires money to begin with. It targets a lack of starting capital, not being poor in general. A person with no capital to plant crops, stock goods, or invest has nothing that can grow into profit, so their effort slips away, just as water runs straight through a sieve.

Better a foe close at hand than a loved one far away.

The saying values presence over sentiment. It holds that someone within reach, even a person you count as hostile, can serve you better than a dear one who lives too far away to make any practical difference in your daily life.

Well done for nothing, Ashur!

The saying mocks a person for doing something useless. The opening interjection works like a sarcastic cheer: mock praise saying the deed amounted to nothing. A plain rendering such as 'bravo' loses this scorn unless the ironic tone is made clear.

Whoever visits your home earns the right to make demands of you.

In the saying's social logic, a host is bound to yield to anyone who has crossed his threshold. The caller's wishes now press on the household, and turning them down would seem ungracious, because the obligation runs from the person visited toward the person who came, never the reverse.

The bald woman shows off about her niece's hair.

The saying mocks a person who takes pride in qualities that belong to someone else. A woman whose own hair is gone praises her niece's hair as if its beauty reflected on her; the niece simply stands for any female relative.

Make a jingle, and they'll all come flocking to you.

On one reading, the shaking is the sound of money in a purse. Let people hear that you have something to spend and they will hurry to surround you. Their company is drawn by your wealth rather than real attachment, so a crowd of friends may say more about your pocket than your worth.

He's like Marzuq, who'd take the high seat even if it were a stake through him.

The saying ridicules a person whose hunger for standing above others is so strong that they would accept elevation in any form, even one that kills them. Marzuq is a stock name for anyone, not a particular figure. The grim joke is that a man impaled on an execution stake is also raised up and displayed.

What is easy for you may overwhelm someone else.

The saying cautions against judging another person’s difficulty by one’s own ability. What one person can get through without much trouble may be far more difficult for someone else.

Penniless, yet strutting about like princes.

The saying ridicules people who copy the bearing and habits of those ranked far above them; its emirs stand for rulers and the powerful generally, not a specific modern title. It sets real poverty against a borrowed swagger, so the gap between what someone has and how they present themselves becomes the target of the joke.

A person who sneezes isn't going to die.

The saying speaks in favour of sneezing. It holds that someone who sneezes gives others no cause to fear for their life, so a sneeze is treated as welcome rather than worrying. In the original, the two verbs rhyme, giving the saying a compact sound.