My informant comes from a family that has lived in rural Georgia (the US state, not the Eurasian country) for many generations. She told me that this proverb was often spoken by her father’s grandmother, who raised my informant’s father for a while during his childhood.

“The helping hand is at the end of your own arm”

This proverb stresses self-reliance and independence, and I noticed a similarity with another common proverb “God helps those who help themselves”. This proverb must have resonated with my informant’s family background of rural farmers who had to practice self-reliance in order to survive in a post-war time period and severe economic recession.