African Proverbs
African proverbs collected by country and tribe, with meanings where they have been written. 435 in the archive.
- Anxiety will not let you die of hunger.
- Around a flowering tree, one finds many insects.Guinea
- Ashes fly back into the face of he or she who throws them.Nigeria
- If you want to know where a path is leading, ask those who are coming from it.Malawi
- You must attend to your business with the vendor in the market, and not to the noise of the market.Benin
- What is bad luck for one man is good luck for another.Ghana
- Bats who think they are birds are in for a great surprise.
- When a once beautiful piece of cloth has turned into rags, no one remembers that it was woven by Ukwa master weavers.Nigeria
- Befriend many, but trust few.Uganda
- Being well dressed does not prevent one from being poor.
- Believe the liar up to the door of his house and no further than that.Egypt
- Better little than too little.Cameroon
- It is better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life.Ghana
- Better to lose a little money than a little friendship.Madagascar
- It is better to travel alone than with a bad companion.Senegal
- A bird that flies off the earth and lands on an anthill is still on the ground.Nigeria
- Birds sing not because they have answers but because they have songs.
- Bread without sauce and a home without a wife are meaningless.Ethiopia
- The buttocks are like a married couple though there is constant friction between them; they will still love and live together.
- By being grateful, a person makes himself or herself deserving of yet another kindness.Nigeria
- By the time the fool has learned the game, the players have dispersed.Ghana
- By trying repeatedly, the monkey learns how to jump from the tree.Cameroon
- It is the calm and silent water that drowns a man.Ghana
- A camel does not joke about the hump of another camel.Guinea