Literal translation
if youth knew and old age could, nothing would happen
Meaning
if youth only knew and age only could, nothing would go wrong
Explanation
This proverb sets against each other two complementary shortcomings that govern the human condition: youth has strength and opportunity but lacks experience, while old age has experience but lacks strength. If both qualities could be combined in one person, no misfortune and no mistake would ever occur again. The Provençal wording follows exactly the well-known French saying, if youth knew, if old age could, a sign of a shared fund of popular wisdom on both sides of the language. The verbs sabié and poudié stand in the imperfect of hypothesis, the classic tense of regret or of an unattainable wish, and arribarié carries the conditional that closes the sentence on a consequence that will never take place. The saying is quoted, with a touch of resignation or gentle irony, to comment on a missed opportunity, a youthful mistake, or a caution that came too late, in a register of popular wisdom free of any harshness.