Accounts keep friends long — clear financial dealings, not vague mutual obligations, preserve friendship over time. When money is involved, write it down, settle it promptly, and keep precise records; vagueness about financial matters is the destroyer of friendships.
The pragmatic Sicilian understanding of friendship recognised that money was friendship's most common killer. Loans not repaid, shared expenses not settled, vague obligations allowed to accumulate — these were the practical mechanisms by which genuine affection was transformed into resentment. 'Cunti' means 'conti' (accounts) — the word itself implies the keeping of proper records. The proverb is advice to the idealist who believes that real friends should not need to count: precisely the opposite. Friends who care about the relationship protect it from the corrosive effects of financial ambiguity. Pay back promptly, split bills clearly, and the friendship survives even difficult times. The Sicilian approach was to treat money matters with deliberate clarity exactly because friendship was too valuable to lose to avoidable confusion.
A Sicilian proverb about the protection of friendship through clear financial dealings. 'Cunti' = conti (accounts/bills). Equivalent to 'short reckonings make long friends.' Particularly used in business and family financial contexts across Sicily.
Before lending money to a friend
Ti do i soldi ma facciamo la ricevuta. I cunti fannu i amici longhi — non voglio che tra sei mesi ci siano problemi.
I will give you the money but let us write a receipt. Accounts keep friends long — I do not want there to be problems in six months.
After a friendship was ruined by unclear financial dealings
Eravamo amici da vent'anni. Poi quella storia dei soldi. I cunti fannu i amici longhi — se lo avessimo messo per scritto non sarebbe andata così.
We had been friends for twenty years. Then that business with the money. Accounts keep friends long — if we had put it in writing it would not have ended like this.
Setting up a business with a friend
Siamo amici, sì, ma facciamo tutto in modo formale. I cunti fannu i amici longhi — vogliamo restare amici anche dopo.
We are friends, yes, but let us do everything formally. Accounts keep friends long — we want to remain friends afterwards too.
Splitting expenses at a shared holiday
Teniamo traccia di tutto durante la vacanza. I cunti fannu i amici longhi — così alla fine non litigano.
Let us keep track of everything during the holiday. Accounts keep friends long — that way they do not argue at the end.