African Proverbs
African proverbs collected by country and tribe, with meanings where they have been written. 435 in the archive.
- Three things that a man must know to survive: what is too much for him, what is too little, and what is fitting.
- To be smiled at isn't to be loved.Kenya
- To give to your friend is not to cast away; it is to store for the future.
- To make preparations does not spoil the trip.Guinea
- To run is not necessarily to arrive.Kenya
- The toad likes water but not when it is boiling.Guinea
- Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.
- The tree that cannot shed its old leaves in the dry season, cannot survive the period of drought.Nigeria
- Two ants do not fail to pull one grasshopper.Tanzania
- Two small antelopes can beat a big one.Ghana
- Ugliness with a good character is better than beauty.Nigeria
- Unless the wind blows there is not the least chance in the world you would see the anus of a fowl.Nigeria
- Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.Nigeria
- He who urinates in a stream must remember his family drinks from the water.Nigeria
- We will water the thorn for the sake of the rose.Chad
- You will not see the importance of a river until it runs dry.
- If we stand tall, it is because we stand on the backs of those who came before us.
- We desire to bequeath two things to our children; the first one is roots, the other one is wings.Sudan
- Wealth is invited, but poverty invites itself.Mozambique
- A weapon that you don't have in your hand will not kill a snake.
- It is what is in the heart when there is no wine in the head that comes out when there is wine in the head.Nigeria
- What is inflated too much, will burst into fragments.
- What is said over the dead lion's body could not be said to him alive.
- What you help a child to love can be more important than what you help him to learn.