He who minds his own business lives a hundred years — the person who focuses on their own life and affairs without meddling in others' business lives long, healthy, and relatively free of conflict. Non-interference in others' lives is both polite and self-protective.
This proverb is one of the cornerstones of Sicilian social code, related to but distinct from omertà. It is not primarily about silence regarding crimes but about a general philosophy of non-interference: the business of others is not yours, and involving yourself in it brings trouble without benefit. In tightly-packed communities where everyone's life was visible to everyone else, the temptation to comment, intervene, advise, or judge was constant. The proverb was the cultural brake on this impulse — not because other people's lives were uninteresting, but because involvement inevitably created entanglements, obligations, enemies, and complications that shortened life rather than enriched it. The person who focused on their own garden, their own family, their own work, was not antisocial but wise in the specific Sicilian sense.
One of the most behavioural Sicilian proverbs, teaching non-interference as a survival and social strategy. 'Si fa i fatti soi' = si fa i fatti propri (minds one's own business), 'campa' = vive (lives). Universal across Sicily.
Warning a friend not to get involved in the neighbours' dispute
— Dovrei dire qualcosa, si stanno trattando male. — Cu si fa i fatti soi campa cent'anni. Non è affar tuo.
— I should say something, they are treating each other badly. — He who minds his own business lives a hundred years. It is not your affair.
An elder explaining their philosophy of life
Ho ottantasei anni. Come ci sono arrivato? Cu si fa i fatti soi campa cent'anni — non mi sono mai impicciato di quello che non mi riguardava.
I am eighty-six years old. How did I get there? He who minds his own business lives a hundred years — I never meddled in what did not concern me.
After getting burned by interfering in a colleague's problem
Ho cercato di aiutare e sono diventato il problema. Cu si fa i fatti soi campa cent'anni — la prossima volta aspetto che mi chiedano.
I tried to help and became the problem. He who minds his own business lives a hundred years — next time I wait until asked.
Explaining Sicilian reserve to a northerner
Qua non facciamo domande personali ai vicini. Cu si fa i fatti soi campa cent'anni — non è freddezza, è rispetto.
Here we do not ask personal questions to neighbours. He who minds his own business lives a hundred years — it is not coldness, it is respect.