Aunque la mona se vista de seda, mona se queda.
“Even dressed in silk, a monkey is still a monkey.”
Fine outward appearances cannot change a person's underlying nature.
— Traditional Gibraltar Wisdom, Gibraltar
Source: Traditional Andalusian Spanish proverb (refran), shared cultural and linguistic heritage of Gibraltar's Llanito vernacular, public-domain oral tradition
More Proverbs from Gibraltar
There are those who, chasing a small coin, spend a bigger one on candles.
Warns against wasting more effort or money pursuing a small gain than the gain is actually worth.
The bell does not go to mass, but it gives the warning.
Even a messenger who cannot act directly can still play a vital role by sounding the alarm.
Carrying water to the sea, now that would be madness.
Doing something completely redundant, like offering someone what they already have in abundance, is pointless folly.
What the father earns, the son squanders.
Wealth or achievement built by one generation through hard work is often carelessly wasted by the next.
Justice and Lent are made for the poor.
A wry observation that the burdens of law and hardship tend to fall hardest on those with the least power.
Do not pick a fight with a dog that has an owner.
Be careful provoking someone who has protection or powerful backing behind them.