African Proverbs
African proverbs collected by country and tribe, with meanings where they have been written. 435 in the archive.
- Where there is sea, there will always be pirates.Malawi
- Where you will sit when you are old shows where you stood in youth.Nigeria
- Whether you wait for tomorrow or you don't, it is sure to come.Nigeria
- The rat said: "If I had not been denied food, would I be stealing it?".Nigeria
- Wisdom does not come overnight.Somalia
- Wisdom is like fire. People take it from others.Congo
- Wisdom is not like money to be tied up and hidden.Guinea
- Wisdom is wealth.Kenya
- Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it.Guinea
- A wise man who knows proverbs, reconciles difficulties.Nigeria
- A wise man never knows all. Only fools know everything.
- When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.Algeria
- Wood already touched by fire isn't hard to set alight.Ghana
- Words are like bullets; if they escape, you can't catch them again.The Gambia
- Words are like spears: once they leave your lips, they can never come back.Benin
- If you are looking for a fly in your food it means that you are full.South Africa
- If you think you are too small to make a difference, you haven't spent a night with a mosquito.
- You can chew for someone but you cannot swallow for them.Sierra Leone
- No matter how much milk a cow has, you cannot milk butter from it.Guinea
- You can outrun what is running after you, but not what is running inside of you.Rwanda
- You don't need pain killers for another man's headache.Nigeria
- You do not teach the paths of the forest to an old gorilla.
- You have little power over what's not yours.Zimbabwe
- You learn how to cut down trees by cutting them down.