هر درختی که میوه میدهد

What it says

هر درختی که میوه می‌دهد سنگ می‌خورد (har derakhti ke mive midahad sang mikhorad) is a sharp little proverb. Literally: “every tree that bears fruit gets stones thrown at it.” Iranian families and offices use it to explain why the productive person is always the one being criticized.

The literal meaning

Each piece: هر (har) every, درختی (derakhti) tree, که (ke) that, میوه (mive) fruit, می‌دهد (midahad) gives, سنگ (sang) stone, می‌خورد (mikhorad) gets hit by, literally “eats.” The picture is of village kids throwing stones at fruit trees to knock down apples or apricots. The barren tree is left alone. Nobody bothers it. The fruitful tree, by contrast, takes hits all summer. Persian poetry has used this image for centuries because it captures a real piece of human nature in five words.

The figurative meaning

If you produce something, you will be attacked. The hard worker at the office gets the gossip. The kind sibling gets the family complaints. The successful business attracts the petty competitors. The thoughtful student gets mocked. Iranians use this proverb to comfort someone who is being criticized for doing well. The criticism, the proverb says, is not a sign that you are bad. It is a sign that you are bearing fruit. Stones do not fall on dead branches. The saying carries a quiet pride and a quiet patience. It tells the listener: keep producing, the stones are part of the geometry of being useful.

How to use it

• چرا اینقدر بهم گیر می‌دن؟ هر درختی که میوه می‌دهد سنگ می‌خورد (cherâ inghadr behem gir midan? har derakhti ke mive midahad sang mikhorad) “Why do they keep picking on me? Every tree that bears fruit gets stoned”
• به حرفشون اهمیت نده، هر درختی که میوه می‌دهد سنگ می‌خورد (be harfeshun ahammiyat nade, har derakhti ke mive midahad sang mikhorad) “Don’t take their words to heart, the productive always get stones”
• مادرم همیشه می‌گفت هر درختی که میوه می‌دهد سنگ می‌خورد (mâdaram hamishe migoft har derakhti ke mive midahad sang mikhorad) “My mother always used to say, every fruitful tree gets stoned”

Related expressions

The proverb sits in a family of envy-and-criticism sayings. حسادت (hasâdat) “envy” is the emotion the proverb is naming. چشم بد (cheshm-e bad) “the evil eye” is the supernatural cousin, the idea that visible success attracts harm. تا پای از گلیم خود درازتر کنی (tâ pâ-ye az gelim-e khod derâz-tar koni) “if you stretch your foot beyond your own carpet” is the warning version, often paired with this proverb. The English neighbors are “tall poppies get cut” and “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down,” though the Persian fruit-tree version carries less judgment of the producer and more empathy for them.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab