יוֹתֵר מִמַּה שֶּׁהָעֵגֶל רוֹצֶה לִינֹק הֲפָרָה רוֹצָה לְהָנִיק

ביטוי (אנגלית)

More than the calf wants to suckle, the cow wants to nurse/ the cow wants to suckle more than the calf to nuzzle/ the teacher is more anxious to teach than the pupil to learn

הגדרה (אנגלית)

Figuratively: the urge to give is stronger than the urge to receive. Also: an expression emphasizing a person's desire to give to another more than the other needs.

("Five matters Rabbi Akiva commanded Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai when he was imprisoned in jail. He said to him: Rabbi, teach me Torah. He said: I will not teach you. He said to him: If you do not teach me, I will tell my father Yohai and he will hand you over to the kingdom. He said to him: My son, more than the calf wants to suckle, the cow wants to nurse. He said to him: And who is in danger? Why, the calf is in danger. He said to him: If you seek to be hanged, hang yourself from a great tree; and when you teach your son, teach him from a corrected book" — Pesachim 112a, and likewise: "I understood the splendor of Your thoughts / and I grew weary of bearing the yoke of Your loves / and my heart, in the chain of Your longing, gave life to my soul / more than the calf wants to suckle, the cow wants to nurse" — Isaac ibn Sahula; they said he was in Ashdod.)