Claw me, and I will claw you.
Meaning: Mutual aggression escalates reciprocally; treating others harshly invites equal retaliation in return.
Origin: "Claw" meant scratch or flatter. It is an old proverb with close relatives in Gaelic and Dutch, and the ancestor of "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours."
More proverbs about Challenge
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- It's an ill battle where the devil carries the colours. — When evil forces lead the fight, victory itself becomes a moral defeat for all sides invo…
- It's good to have company in trouble. — Shared hardship becomes more bearable through mutual support and the comfort of knowing y…
- They complain wrongfully of the sea, who twice suffer shipwreck. — Repeated misfortune from the same cause reveals poor judgment rather than bad luck.
From our untranslatable words
- Khalyava — Something good got for free and without effort — and, strictly, something you were never…
- Beloruchka — Someone who dodges dirty or hard work — a person whose hands stay conspicuously clean.
- Zapoi — A bender running for days, in which a person drops out of ordinary life entirely.