ProverbHuman NatureDutch origin

Een vos verliest wel zijn haren, maar niet zijn streken

Meaning: People may change their appearance, but not their character.

Literally: A fox loses its hair but not its tricks

Example: “Hij beloofde eerlijk te worden, maar een vos verliest wel zijn haren, maar niet zijn streken.” — He promised to go straight, but a leopard can't change its spots.

Equivalents in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, and 5 more languages

  • English: The wolf changes his coat but not his character
  • French: Le loup change de poil, non de naturel (literally: The wolf changes its coat, not its nature)
  • Spanish: Genio y figura hasta la sepultura (literally: Character and form until the grave)
  • German: Die Katze lässt das Mausen nicht (literally: The cat will not give up catching mice)
  • Italian: Il lupo perde il pelo ma non il vizio (literally: The wolf loses its fur but not its vice)
  • Russian: Горбатого могила исправит (Gorbatogo mogila ispravit) (literally: Only the grave will straighten a hunchback)
  • Polish: Natura ciągnie wilka do lasu (literally: Nature pulls the wolf to the forest)
  • Chinese: 江山易改，本性难移 (Jiāngshān yì gǎi, běnxìng nán yí) (literally: Rivers and mountains change easily; nature hardly)
  • Arabic: الطبع يغلب التطبع (Aṭ-ṭabʿ yaghlib at-taṭabbuʿ) (literally: Nature beats nurture)
  • Turkish: Huylu huyundan vazgeçmez (literally: A person of habit won't give up his habit)

Origin: Suetonius has a herdsman say it of the emperor Vespasian in Latin: vulpem pilum mutare, non mores, the fox changes its fur but not its habits.

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