African proverbs

• 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

• "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." (West african proverb)
  • Theodore Roosevelt, in a letter to Henry L. Sprague (26 January 1900)

• You condemn on hearsay evidence alone, your sins increase.
  • 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

• If one knows thee not or a blind man scolds thee, do not become angry.
  • Anonymous (claimed to be an African proverb by The Journal of Negro History, Volume I. Jan. 1916[1])

• 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)