Literal translation
When you are born pointed, you cannot die square.
Meaning
you can't change your basic nature
Explanation
This proverb expresses the idea that one's fundamental nature does not change over a lifetime: the shape one is born with, pounchu, pointed, remains the same until death, whatever that death's own shape, carra, square. The two adjectives, opposed in their geometric form, symbolise two fundamentally different temperaments or natures, without needing to specify which of the two is preferable: what matters is the impossibility of passing from one to the other. The proverb belongs to a fatalistic vein of folk wisdom about character, treated as fixed from birth, independent of upbringing or will. It resembles English sayings such as a leopard cannot change its spots, while keeping its own image, borrowed from geometry. It is used in ordinary register to excuse or explain someone's recurring behaviour, or to give up hoping for a change in character.