الدنيا لمن غلب
Al-donya le man ghalab
Translation: The world belongs to the victor
Meaning: This is a segment of a line of poetry by the Iraq-born tenth-eleventh century poet Abu al-Ala al-Me’arri. The whole line of poetry goes thus: “Time is the same, and all days are equal/people are the same and the world belongs to the victor”. You will not hear many people using this proberb in conversation now, but when classical poetry was an integral part of education, a century or so ago, it must have been a common saying..
Source: Egyptian Proverbs, (Al-Ahram Center for Translation and Publishing, 1986) by Ahmed Taymour Pasha,
Translated by: Nabil Shawkat
Short link: