African proverbs

From Wikiquote

This is a collection of many African proverbs.

Contents 1 Local & Ethnic 1.1 Baganda 1.2 Ethiopian 1.3 Ghanaian 1.4 West African 1.5 Nigerian 1.6 Sierra Leone 1.7 South African 1.8 Zimbabwean 1.9 Zulu 2 General & Unknown

[edit] Local & Ethnic

[edit] Baganda

• One who loves you, warns you.

[edit] Ethiopian

• Evil enters like a splinter and spreads like an oak tree.
• The mouse is silent while laboring, but when the baby is conceived, she cries.

[edit] Ghanaian

• Be glad you are unknown, for when you are known, you would wish you weren't
• The lizard does not eat hot chillies for the frog to sweat.
• Where error gets to, correction cannot reach.
• Got a stone but didn't get a nut to crack, got a nut but didn't get a stone to crack it with.
• You don't need a light to see someone you know intimately at night.
• The goat thought it was dirtying its owner's wall till it realized its coat was peeling.
• If a blind man says he will throw a stone at you, he probably has his foot on one.
• Ashi vie me duna ashie ga o
  • (Literally - The little hand does not beat the big hand)
  • English equivalent: Monkeys play by sizes
• So many little things makes a man love a woman in a BIG way.
• Do good because of tomorrow
• The length of a frog can only be determined after it dies.
• It is a fool who rejoices when his neighbor is in trouble.
• Be mindful of your own fingers when you are chewing that of a monkey
• As you worship plantain, remember to worship banana as well.
• Count not only my blessings but also count my worries and struggles as well.

[edit] West African

• What you cannot see during the day, you will not see at night.

[edit] Nigerian

• If a toad jumps around in the daytime, it is either chasing something or something is chasing it.
• A bird that flies from the ground onto an anthill does not know that it is still on the ground.
• you suck ass, her young one watches her mouth.
• Proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten.
• The Earth moves at different speeds depending on who you are.
• When the elephants fight it is the grass that suffers.
• The child that will not allow his parents to sleep through the night must be prepared to stay awake himself.
• A person once bitten by a snake will be scared by an old rope.
• When the bush is on fire, the antelope ceases to fear the hunter's bullet.
• He who dines with the dogs will eat feces.
• A snake will always give birth to something long.

[edit] Sierra Leone

• You can't scare a monkey with a dead baboon.

[edit] South African

• Not everyone who chased the zebra caught it, but he who caught it chased it.
• I relied on the report of "ntulo" (the blue-headed lizard).

[edit] Zimbabwean

• A weaning baby that does not cry aloud will die on its mothers back.
• The forest provides food to the hunter after he is utterly exhausted.
• One's neighbors' problems do not induce one to lose one's appetite.
• If you are ugly you must either learn to dance or make love.
• That which has horns can not be concealed by cloth.
• A man that does not lie shall never marry.
• Eat what you have found with your relatives, non-relatives are forgetful.
• A king's child is a slave elsewhere.
• What forgets is the axe, but the tree that has been axed will never forget.
• Things are to be tried, an old lady cooked stones and they produced soup.

[edit] Zulu

• In the home of the coward, there is no funeral dirge.
• A fine staff is hewn from flora in foreign lands.
• A pelt is rolled up while it is still moist.
• The foot has no place of repose.
• What has horns must not be hid in a sack.
• Harsh world, this world.

[edit] General & Unknown

• The path is made by walking.
• The earth is a beehive; we all enter by the same door but live in different cells.
• An old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb.
• Haraka haraka haina baraka
  • Swahili for: "hurry, hurry has no blessing"
• Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
• He who forgives ends the argument.
• Don't set sail on someone else's star.
• A bad name is like a stigma.
• A big blanket encourages sleeping in the morning. (Luxury encourages Idleness. If you have worked hard and made wise choices, you will find contentment.)
• A bird that is eating guinea-corn keeps quiet. (Someone going about his regular business will not create a disturbance. Dedicate yourself to a task.)
• A bird will always use another birds' feathers to feather its own nest.
• A blade won't cut another blade; a cheat won't cheat another cheat.
• A cat may go to a monastery, but she still remains a cat!
• A chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very day it hatches.
• A child's fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam which his mother puts into his palm.
• A close friend can become a close enemy.
• A cow gave birth to a fire: she wanted to lick it, but it burned; she wanted to leave it, but she could not because it was her own child.
• A cow that has no tail should not try to chase away flies.
• A cutting word is worse than a bowstring; a cut may heal, but the cut of the tongue does not.
• A fool and water will go the way they are diverted.
• A fool looks for dung where the cow never browsed.
• A fool will pair an ox with an elephant.
• A good deed is something one returns.
• A hippopotamus can be made invisible in dark water. (Ignorance can lead to potential danger. It is important to be informed and alert.)
• A home without a woman is like a barn without cattle.
• A little leaven smoothes away the whole lump.
• A little rain each day will fill the rivers to overflowing.
• A little subtleness is better than a lot of force.
• A loose tooth will not rest until it's pulled out.
• A man who continually laments is not heeded.
• A man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness.
• A man with too much ambition cannot sleep in peace.
• A man's grave is by the roadside.
• A man's wealth may be superior to him.
• A partner in the business will not put an obstacle to it.
• A person is a person because of other persons.
• A pretty basket does not prevent worries.
• A proud heart can survive a general failure because such a failure does not prick its pride.
• A proverb is the horse of conversation: when the conversation lags, a proverb revives it.
• A single bracelet does not jingle.
• A single stick may smoke, but it will not burn.
• A strawberry blossom will not sweeten dry bread.
• A too modest man goes hungry.
• A wise man who knows proverbs can reconcile difficulties.
• Absence makes the heart forget.
• Advise and counsel him; if he does not listen, let adversity teach him.
• After a foolish deed comes remorse.
• Allah does not destroy the men whom one hates.
• An old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb.
• Anticipate the good so that you may enjoy it.
• Around a flowering tree, one finds many insects.
• As the dog said, 'If I fall down for you and you fall down for me, it is playing.'
• As the wound inflames the finger, so thought inflames the mind.
• Because a man has injured your goat, do not go out and kill his bull.
• Because friendship is pleasant, we partake of our friend's entertainment; not because we have not enough to eat in our own house.
• Before eating, open thy mouth.
• Before one cooks, one must have the meat.
• Being well dressed does not prevent one from being poor.
• By the time the fool has learned the game, the players have dispersed.
• By trying often, the monkey learns to jump from the tree.
• Cactus is bitter only to him who tastes of it.
• Children are the reward of life.
• Clothes put on while running come off while running.
• Confiding a secret to an unworthy person is like carrying grain in a bag with a hole.
• Cross the river in a crowd and the crocodile won't eat you.
• Dine with a stranger but save your love for your family.
• Do not call the forest that shelters you a jungle.
• Do not dispose of the monkey's tail before he is dead.
• Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.
• Do not measure the timbers for your house in the forest.
• Do not say the first thing that comes to your mind
• Don't insult the crocodile until you cross the water. (Be careful about criticizing others.)
• Don't kick a sleeping dog.
• Don't take another mouthful before you have swallowed what is in your mouth.
• Even over cold pudding, the coward says ~'It will burn my mouth."
• Even though the old man is strong and hearty, he will not live forever.
• Evil enters like a needle and spreads like an oak tree.
• Familiarity breeds contempt; distance breeds respect.
• Fire and gunpowder do not sleep together.
• Good millet is known at the harvest.
• Great events may stem from words of no importance.
• He is a fool whose sheep runs away twice.
• He that digs up a grave for his enemy, may be digging it for himself.
• He who asks questions, cannot avoid the answers
• He who begins a conversation, does not foresee the end.
• He who cannot dance will say: "The drum is bad."
• He who conceals his disease cannot expect to be cured.
• He who digs too deep for a fish, may come out with a snake.
• He who does not cultivate his field, will die of hunger.
• He who does not know one thing knows another.
• He who hunts two rats, catches none.
• He who is bitten by a snake fears a lizard.
• He who is unable to dance says that the yard is stony.
• He who learns, teaches.
• He who loves money must labor.
• He who receives a gift does not measure.
• He who talks incessantly talks nonsense.
• He who wants to barter, usually knows what is best for him.
• He who wears too fine clothes, shall go about in rags.
• He, who is free of faults, will never die.
• Hearts do not meet one another like roads.
• His opinions are like water in the bottom of a canoe, going from side to side.
• Home affairs are not talked about on the public square.
• Hunger is felt by a slave and hunger is felt by a king.
• If a child washes his hands he could eat with kings.
• If a dead tree falls, it carries with it a live one.
• If nothing touches the palm-leaves they do not rustle. (Compare English "Where there's smoke there's fire.")
• If relatives help each other, what evil can hurt them?
• If the heart is sad, tears will flow.
• If the palm of the hand itches it signifies the coming of great luck.
• If you are in hiding, don't light a fire.
• If you burn a house, can you conceal the smoke?
• If you do not step on the dog's tail, he will not bite you.
• If you don't stand for something, you will fall for something.
• If you find no fish, you have to eat bread.
• If you offend, ask for pardon; if offended, forgive.
• If you tell people to live together, you tell them to quarrel.
• If you try to cleanse others - like soap, you will waste away in the process!
• If you watch your pot, your food will not burn.
• If your house is burning, there is not time to go hunting. (Priorities are important in planning activities.)
• Indecision is like the stepchild: if he doesn't wash his hands, he is called dirty; if he does, he is wasting the water.
• It is Mr. Old-Man-Monkey who marries Mrs. Old-Woman-Monkey.
• It is best to bind up the finger before it is cut.
• It is no shame at all to work for money.
• It is the calm and silent water that drowns a man.
• It is the duty of children to wait on elders, and not the elders on children.
• It is the fool's sheep that break loose twice.
• It takes a village to raise a child. (West Africa)
• It takes a whole village to raise a child
• It takes two to make a quarrel.
• It's a bad child who does not take advice.
• Knowledge is better than riches.
• Knowledge is like a garden: if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.