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Originally Posted by HarryT
Hi Alex,
The literal meaning is "weeds don't go away".
It's a proverb that means that a bad person is hard to get rid of. English equivalents would be expressions like "a bad penny always turns up again", or "the Devil looks after his own".
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Your translation is correct, however, the proverb doesn't necessarily refer to bad persons. For example, the Wahrig dictionary defines it as:
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zähe, kräftige Menschen gehen nicht unter
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and the Duden dictionary defines it as:
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einem Menschen wie mir/ihm/ihr passiert nichts
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The Oxford English German dictionary translates it as:
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it would take a great deal to finish off his/her/our sort
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which is most likely closer to the intended meaning.