African proverbs
From Wikiquote
Proverbs from all of Africa.
Contents |
D [edit]
- Don't look where you fell, but where you slipped.
- English equivalent: Today is yesterday's pupil.
- Sr, Neil, Neil, Neal (2011). Police Instructor: Deliver Dynamic Presentations, Create Engaging Slides, \& Increase Active Learning. CreateSpace. p. 245. ISBN 1.
- Don’t set sail using someone else’s star.
- Meaning: Avoid copying someone else. Just because someone has been successful in what he/she does does not warrant that you will also be successful at the same thing. Answers Africa proverbs and meanings
E [edit]
- Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better start running.- Thomas L. Friedman, The World Is Flat (2005–2006), Ch. 2, Flattener #6 (p. 137 in the 2006 edition)
I [edit]
- If one knows thee not or a blind man scolds thee, do not become angry.
- It takes a whole village to raise a child.
- Popularized in English by Hillary Clinton's 1996 book, It Takes a Village. Although sayings with similar purport are found in various African cultures, the authenticity of this expression's African origin is debatable.[2][3]
- It is a bad child who does not take advice.
- English equivalent: Advice most needed is the least heeded.
- Stone (2006). Routledge Dictionary of World Proverbs. Taylor \& Francis. p. 8.
S [edit]
- "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." (West African proverb)
- Meaning: Be affable, but be sure to have effective punitive measures.
- Theodore Roosevelt, in a letter to Henry L. Sprague (26 January 1900)
T [edit]
- The sun is the king of torches.
- West African proverb, quoted in Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages : Classified Subjectively and Arranged Alphabetically (1887) by Robert Christy, p. 322
- Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.
- Prospectus, Goldman (2011). Baseball Prospectus 2011. John Wiley \& Sons. p. 496. ISBN 0470622067.
Y [edit]
- You condemn on hearsay evidence alone, your sins increase.
- Latin equivalent: When in doubt, in favour of the accused.
- Anonymous quoted in Apropos of Africa : Sentiments of Negro American Leaders on Africa from the 1800s to the 1950s (1969) edited by Adelaide Cromwell Hill and Martin Kilson
