African Proverbs

African proverbs collected by country and tribe, with meanings where they have been written. 435 in the archive.

• If you destroy a bridge, be sure you can swim.
• If you do not have patience you cannot make beer.Namibia
• If you don't stand for something, you will fall for something.
• If you do not travel, you will marry your own sister.Mozambique
• If you don't wish to have rags for clothes, don't play with a dog.Nigeria
• If you dream of moving mountains tomorrow, you must start by lifting small stones today.Equatorial Guinea
• If you follow the elephant, you never get entangled in the forest.
• If you have not been to two different bazaars, then you do not know what the best value is.Burkina Faso
• If you know his father and grandfather, don't worry about his son.
• If you offend, ask for pardon; if offended, forgive.
• If you pick up one end of the stick you also pick up the other.Ethiopia
• If you tell people to live together, you tell them to quarrel.
• If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
• If a young woman says no to marriage, just wait until her breasts sag.Burundi
• If your brother is up the plum tree, you will eat the best plum.
• If your house is burning, there is not time to go hunting.
• Indecision is like a step child: if he doesn't wash his hands, then he is called dirty; but if he washes his hands, then he is wasting water!.
• Those who inherit fortunes are often more of a problem than those who made them.Congo
• It is better to be loved than feared.Sierra Leone
• It is better to be married to an old lady than to remain unmarried.Uganda
• It is no shame at all to work for money.Ghana
• It is the fool's sheep that break loose twice.Ghana
• It is the soil that knows that the mouse's baby is ill.Zimbabwe
• It takes a whole village to raise a child.