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.



It takes a whole village to raise a child
YORUBA OF NIGERIA


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

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


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


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


To one who does not know , a small 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


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


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


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


He who marries a beauty marries trouble.
NIGERIA


When one is in trouble, one remembers God.
NIGERIA


Time destroys all things.
NIGERIA


Earth is the queen of beds.
NAMIBIA


If your mouth turns into a knife, it will cut off your lips.
RWANDA


An intelligent enemy is better than a stupid friend.
SENEGAL


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


To try and fail is not laziness.
SOMALIA


Poverty is slavery.
SOMALIA


Wisdom does not come overnight.
SOMALIA


To be without a friend is to be poor indeed.
TANZANIA


A roaring lion kills no game.
TANZANIA


In all the world, things are two and two.
UGANDA


Do not call to a dog with a whip in your hand.
SUDAN

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?

Where you will sit when you are old shows where you stood in youth.
Yoruba


Two men in a burning house must not stop to argue.
Ashanti