African Proverbs
Posted by: Amin George Forji
( cf: Matti Kuusi, http://oneproverb.net )
[Ed. Note: Copyright pertains to http://oneproverb.net, and not Ndungated website]
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A wise man who knows proverbs, reconciles difficulties.
Ashanti of Ghana
Rain beats a leopard's skin, but it does not wash out the spots.
Ashanti of Ghana
One falsehood spoils a thousand truths.
Ashanti of Ghana
Do not call the forest that shelters you a jungle.
Ashanti of Ghana
The moon moves slowly, but it crosses the town.
Ashanti of Ghana
The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people.
Ashanti of Ghana
When the cock is drunk, he forgets about the hawk.
Ashanti of Ghana
There is no medicine to cure hatred.
Ashanti of Ghana
When a king has good counselors, his reign is peaceful.
Ashanti of Ghana
By the time the fool has learned the game, the players have dispersed.
Ashanti of Ghana
It is the calm and silent water that drowns a man.
Ashanti of Ghana
Money is sharper than a sword.
Ashanti of Ghana
When you are rich, you are hated; when you are poor, you are despised.
Ashanti of Ghana
It is Mr. Old-Man-Monkey who marries Mrs. Old-Woman-Monkey.
Ashanti of Ghana
No one tests the depth of a river with both feet.
Ashanti of Ghana
Two men in a burning house must not stop to argue.
Ashanti of Ghana
He who is guilty is the one that has much to say.
Ashanti
He is a fool whose sheep runs away twice.
Ashanti
If you understand the beginning well, the end will not trouble you.
Ashanti
To engage in conflict, one does not bring a knife that cuts -but a needle that sews.
Bahumaba
Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.
Bondei
Sickness accompanies a waning moon; a new moon cures disease.
Buganda
When the moon is not full, the stars shine more brightly.
Buganda
A strawberry blossom will not sweeten dry bread.
Buganda
Water always finds a way out.
Cameroon
Do not step on the dog's tail, and he will not bite you.
Cameroon
He who asks questions, cannot avoid the answers.
Cameroon
The heart of the wise man lies quiet like limpid water.
Cameroon
The cricket cries, the year changes.
Cameroon
Thought breaks the heart.
Cameroon
Rain does not fall on one roof alone.
Cameroon
A chattering bird builds no nest.
Cameroon
Children are the reward of life.
Congo
Little by little grow the bananas.
Congo
Love is like a baby: it needs to be treated tenderly.
Congo
You do not teach the paths of the forest to an old gorilla.
Congo
Man is like palm-wine: when young, sweet but without strength; in old age, strong but harsh.
Congo
The friends of our friends are our friends.
Congo
Death does not sound a trumpet.
Congo
No matter how long the night, the day is sure to come.
Congo
To love someone who does not love you, is like shaking a tree to make the dew drops fall.
Congo
Sleep is the cousin of death.
Congo
Those who are absent are always wrong.
Congo
A single bracelet does not jingle.
Congo
Pride only goes the length one can spit.
Congo
Taking water from the same well doesn't make all the wives' gravy taste good.
Cote D'Ivorie
When your neighbour is wrong you point a finger, but when you are wrong you hide.
Ekonda
To one who does not know, a who garden is a forest.
Ethiopia
When one is in love, a cliff becomes a meadow.
Ethiopia
Evil enters like a needle and spreads like a oak tree.
Ethiopia
Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
Ethiopia
Restless feet may walk into a snake pit.
Ethiopia
Snake at your feet a stick at your hand!
Ethiopia
The witness of a rat is another rat.
Ethiopia
He who learns, teaches.
Ethiopia
Woman without man is like a field without seed.
Ethiopia
Unless you call out, who will open the door?
Ethiopia
When the heart overflows, it comes out through the mouth.
Ethiopia
You cannot build a house for last year's summer.
Ethiopia
When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.
Ethiopia
The fool speaks, the wise man listens.
Ethiopia
A cat may go to a monastery, but she still remains a cat.
Ethiopia
A silly daughter teaches her mother how to bear children.
Ethiopia
It is easy to become a monk in one's old age.
Ethiopia
The fool is thirsty in the midst of water.
Ethiopia
One's name remains above the grave.
Ethiopia
As the wound inflames the finger, so thought inflames the mind.
Ethiopia-Oromo
Move your neck according to the music.
Ethiopia-Oromo
One is born, one dies; the land increases.
Ghana
Two waterfalls do not hear each other.
Gikuyu
When you see clouds gathering, prepare to catch rainwater.
Gola
One camel does not make fun of the other camel's hump.
Guinea
A good deed is something one returns.
Guinea
He who does not cultivate his field, will die of hunger.
Guinea
Knowledge is like a garden: if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.
Guinea
No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow.
Guinea
Death is like a robe everyone has to wear.
Guinea (Mandingo)
Always being in a hurry does not prevent death, neither does going slowly prevent living.
Ibo
When the brothers fight to the death, a stranger inherits their father's estate.
Ibo
God! I am in your hands! What you say will happen! Nothing baffles you!
Ibo
Words are sweet, but they never take the place of food.
Ibo
The rain does not recognize anyone as a friend; it drenches all equally.
Ibo
The death of an elderly man is like a burning library.
Ivorian
We will water the thorn for the sake of the rose.
Kanem
Hope is the pillar of the world.
Kanuri
After a foolish deed comes remorse.
Kenya
Talking with one another is loving one another.
Kenya
Good millet is known at the harvest.
Liberia
A little rain each day will fill the rivers to overflowing.
Madagascar
Life is a shadow and a mist; it passes quickly by and is no more.
Madagascar
Death is like a robe that everyone has to wear.
Mandingo
A child without a mother is like a fish in shallow water.
Mynamar
Earth is the queen of beds.
Namibia
The voyager's path is marked by the stars and not the sand dunes.
Nilotic
A friend is someone you share the path with.
Nilotic
He who marries a beauty marries trouble.
Nigeria
When one is in trouble, one remembers God.
Nigeria
Time destroys all things.
Nigeria
Without retaliation, evils would one day become extinct from the world.
Nigeria
If you have one finger pointing at somebody, you have three pointing towards yourself.
Nigeria
You don't need pain killers for another man's headache.
Nigeria (Igala)
God does not sleep.
Nigerian (Bette)
Supposing doesn't fill the grain basket; 'if' doesn't fill the larder.
Ovambo
If you are building a house and a nail breaks, do you stop building, or do you change the nail?
Rwanda
If your mouth turns into a knife, it will cut off your lips.
Rwanda
An intelligent enemy is better than a stupid friend.
Senegal
Equality is not easy, but superiority is painful.
Serere
It is better to be loved than feared.
Sierra Leone
A big fish is caught with big bait.
Sierra Leone
A cow must graze where she is tied.
Sierra Leone
Do not tell the man who is carrying you that he stinks.
Sierra Leone
He who does not seize opportunity today, will be unable to seize tomorrow's opportunity.
Somali
The most dangerous thing a man needs is woman.
Somali
Do not call to a dog with a whip in your hand.
Sudan
The wind does not break a tree that bends.
Sukuma
He who tells the truth is never wrong.
Swahili
To be without a friend is to be poor indeed.
Tanzania
A roaring lion kills no game.
Tanzania
The tears running down your face do not blind you.
Togolese
In all the world, things are two and two.
Uganda
Water that has been begged for does not quench the thirst.
Uganda
It takes a whole village to raise a child
Yoruba
Where you will sit when you are old shows where you stood in youth.
Yoruba
A proverb is the horse that can carry one swiftly to the discovery of ideas.
Yoruba
If you damage the character of another, you damage your own.
Yoruba
Work is the medicine for poverty.
Yoruba
The man who has bread to eat does not appreciate the severity of a famine.
Yoruba
The horse that arrives early gets good drinking water.
Zulu
Copying everyone else all the time, the monkey one day cut his throat.
Zulu
He who hates, hates himself.
Zulu
.
Proverbs are the daughters of experience.
If you're not living on the edge... you're taking up too much room.
Knowledge is not the main thing, but deeds.
The miserly man is like a fattened ox: he will give of his fat only when he has been deprived of his life.
He who runs after good fortune runs away from peace.
The heart of man and the bottom of the sea are unfathomable.
Men fall only in order to rise.
God conceals himself from the mind of man, but reveals himself to his heart.
Call kinship with the hyena, and all hyenas are your friend.
Oh hyena, don't give me excuse to eat me.
Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.
As the dog said, 'If I fall down for you and you fall down for me, it is playing.'
The axe forgets; the tree remembers.
When the mouse laughs at the cat there's a hole nearby.
The teeth are smiling, but is the heart?
.
Riddle Proverbs of SouthWest Africa
The thorn of an Omugowle tree pierced the foot of an elephant;
A mushroom pierced the back of a termite hill.
Big-nose has not blown his nose;
Big feet has not softened the road.
A long millet brought birds to the fields:
A long entranceway brought war (quarrels) to the house.
Two birds on one reed;
Two paths to the watering hole.
A termite nest is the pole (shoe) of the earth;
Clouds are the pillars of the sky.
This and that palm tree, from which one will you tear a leaf;
Here and there a road, which one will you take?
The reed I have not eaten is that of tobacco;
The road I have not walked is that of the sky.
Though you sweep the hut in a sand flat, the sand will not disappear;
No matter how much you mourn your dead mother she will not return.
A little bird does not fly into the arrow;
A woman's sex organ does not come to a man's penis.
There is not one piece of a pot that was not a pot before;
Even old was once young.
