Monthly African Proverbs
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Oct., 2003 |
The hen with baby chicks doesn't swallow the worm. |
|
Sep., 2003 |
Where there is peace, a billhook (sickle) can be used to shave your beard or cut your hair. |
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Aug., 2003 |
Walk on a fresh tree, the dry one will break. |
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Jul., 2003 |
When a tree falls on a yam farm and kills the farm's owner, you don't
waste time counting the numbers of yam hips ruined. |
|
Jun., 2003 |
Like vomit and shit under your feet (the rumormonger spreads scandal). |
|
May, 2003 |
The tears of the orphan run inside.
(English) |
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Apr., 2003 |
Use of brains begets wealth.
(English) |
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Mar., 2003 |
Cows are born with ears; later they grow horns.
(English) |
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Feb., 2003 |
An eye that you treat is the one that turns against you. (English) |
|
Jan., 2003 |
A chicken eats corn, drinks water and swallows little pebbles, but still complains of having no teeth. If she had teeth would she eat steel? (Literal English) |
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Dec., 2002 |
From the word of an elder is derived a bone. |
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Nov., 2002 |
Words are like bullets; if they escape, you can't catch them again. |
|
Oct., 2002 |
You cannot use a wild banana leaf to shield yourself from the rains and then tear it to pieces later when the rains come to an end. |
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Sep., 2002 |
Young growing cuttings determine a good harvest of cassava. |
|
Aug., 2002 |
Smoke does not affect honeybees alone; honey-gatherers are also affected. |
|
Jul., 2002 |
The person who has a light knee can survive longer. |
|
May/Jun., 2002 |
What is in the stomach carries what is in the head. |
|
Apr., 2002 |
Slowly, slowly, porridge goes into the gourd. |
|
Mar., 2002 |
A fool has many days. |
|
Feb., 2002 |
A Tutsi liked to warm himself by the fire; someone else took the bull. |
|
Jan., 2002 |
Far is where there is nothing, where something is that you will struggle to the death to reach. |
|
Dec., 2001 |
A child (young person) does not fear treading on dangerous ground until he or she gets hurt (stumbles). |
|
Nov., 2001 |
When elephants fight, the grass (reeds) gets hurt. |
|
Oct., 2001 |
Many hands make light work. |
|
Sept., 2001 |
A person who does not cultivate well his or her farm always says that it has been bewitched.
Kwaya (Tanzania) explanation... |
|
Aug., 2001 |
Water that has been begged for does not quench the thirst. |
|
July, 2001 |
War is not porridge. |
|
June, 2001 |
No matter how long a log stays in the water, it doesn't become a crocodile. |
|
May, 2001 |
A cockroach knows how to sing and dance, but it is the hen who prevents it from performing its art during the day. |
|
Apr., 2001 |
"Kachenche" (very small bird) is insignificant among strangers, but very important at home. |
|
Mar., 2001 |
An okra tree does not grow taller than its master. |
|
Feb., 2001 |
God is a great eye. He sees everything in the world. |
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Jan., 2001 |
The brother or sister who does not respect the traditions of the elders will not be allowed to eat with the elders. |
|
Dec., 2000 |
A person who is not disciplined cannot be cautioned. |
|
Nov., 2000 |
The eyes of the trapper are as subject to reddening as those of the small animal (that he pursues). |
|
Oct., 2000 |
The hyena with a cub does not eat up (consume) all the available food. |
|
Sept., 2000 |
I have come a long way; the journey has exhausted me. |
|
Aug., 2000 |
If an arrow has not entered deeply, then its removal is not hard. |
|
July, 2000 |
Do not insult the hunting guide before the sun has set. |
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June., 2000 |
Even haplochromis (name of a small fish) employs tilapia (name of a large fish). |
|
May., 2000 |
How easy it is to defeat people who do not kindle fire for themselves. |
|
Apr., 2000 |
The groin pains in sympathy with the sore. |
|
Mar., 2000 |
If you refuse the elder's advice you will walk the whole day. |
|
Feb., 2000 |
A tender bamboo cannot be eagerly desired (for building). |
|
Jan., 2000 |
Two bulls can't stay in the same kraal. |
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Dec., 1999 |
The wasp says that several regular trips to a mud pit enables it to build a house. |
|
Nov., 1999 |
One who bathes willingly with cold water doesn't feel the cold. |
|
Oct., 1999 |
The bush in which you hide has eyes. |
|
Sep., 1999 |
If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family (nation). |
|
Aug., 1999 |
When the bag tears, the shoulders get a rest. |
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Jul., 1999 |
Better a curtain hanging motionless than a flag blowing in the wind. |
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Jun., 1999 |
When an enemy digs a grave for you, God gives you an emergency exit. |
|
May., 1999 |
The "hurry-hurry" person eats goat; the one who takes his or her time (or hesitates) eats beef. |
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Apr., 1999 |
One person is thin porridge or gruel; two or three people are a lump (handful) of ugali (stiff cooked meal/flour from sorghum or millet) |
|
Mar., 1999 |
Let the guest come so that the host or hostess may benefit (get well). |
|
Feb., 1999 |
One who enters a forest does not listen to the breaking of the twigs in the brush. |
|
Dec., 1998 |
By persevering the egg walks on legs. |
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Nov., 1998 |
It takes a whole village to raise a child. |
|
Oct., 1998 |
If you have no teeth, do not break the clay cooking pot. |
|
Sep., 1998 |
It [a bug] grows up in dry wood, and yet comes to maturity. |
|
Aug., 1998 |
The person who has not traveled widely thinks his or her mother is the only cook (the best cook). |
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Jul., 1998 |
Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it. |
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Jun., 1998 |
I pointed out to you the stars (the moon) and all you saw was the tip of my finger. |
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