Meaning & Analysis
It is a just and deserved outcome when people who squander their money and possessions find themselves in need.
Insights
Karmic Justice
Suggests a natural or moral law where the vice of wastefulness is inevitably punished by the state of poverty, framing financial ruin as a deserved consequence.
The Virtue of Prudence
Functions as a cautionary tale that champions the values of thrift and careful resource management by illustrating the negative outcome of their absence.
Justification for Indifference
Can be used to rationalize a lack of sympathy for those whose poverty is self-inflicted, framing their hardship as a just and therefore acceptable outcome.
Social Judgment
The proverb reflects a community's judgment against those who fail to manage their resources, particularly inherited wealth ('patrimony'), reinforcing social norms of fiscal responsibility.
Psychological Defense
Expresses a form of Schadenfreude, allowing the speaker to feel satisfaction in the perceived deserved misfortune of others, thereby affirming their own superior prudence and choices.
Economic Determinism
Carries an undertone of economic determinism, suggesting that financial failure is a natural and fitting consequence for those who lack discipline, justifying a social order where prudence is rewarded and wastefulness is punished.
Rhetorical Devices
Alliteration
The repetition of the 'w' sound in 'well warit' and 'wasters want' creates a memorable, rhythmic link between the concept of justice and the act of wasting.
Moral Aphorism
The proverb is structured as a concise, authoritative statement of moral truth, presenting a complex social judgment as a simple and undeniable fact.
Archaic Diction
The use of terms like 'warit' (deserved) and 'gear' (possessions) lends the proverb an air of traditional, time-tested wisdom.
Transcription
Quotations
Its weill waird that waisters want.
(It is well war’d that).
Spoken when we see them in Need, who have squander’d their Patrimony.
Annotations
- just, well deserved
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.