ProverbWisdomDutch origin

Al draagt een aap een gouden ring, het is en blijft een lelijk ding

Meaning: Fine adornment doesn't change what someone really is.

Literally: Even if an ape wears a gold ring, it's still an ugly thing

Example: “Dure kleren maken hem niet beleefder. Al draagt een aap een gouden ring, het is en blijft een lelijk ding.” — Expensive clothes don't make him any more polite: you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear.

Equivalents in English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Polish, and Chinese

  • English: You can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear
  • French: Le singe est toujours singe, fût-il vêtu de pourpre (literally: A monkey is always a monkey, even dressed in purple)
  • Spanish: Aunque la mona se vista de seda, mona se queda (literally: Even if the monkey dresses in silk, she remains a monkey)
  • Japanese: 瓦は磨いても玉にならず (Kawara wa migaite mo tama ni narazu) (literally: A roof tile, however much you polish it, will not become a jewel)
  • Polish: I w Paryżu nie zrobią z owsa ryżu (literally: Even in Paris they can't make rice out of oats)
  • Chinese: 朽木不可雕 (Xiǔ mù bù kě diāo) (literally: Rotten wood can't be carved)

Origin: An ape in a gold ring stays an ape; ring and ding rhyme. Spanish dresses its monkey in silk instead.

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