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
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