African proverbs

                               

WISDOM AND AGE

1. An old banana leaf was once young and green.
2. Old age does not come in just one day.
3. When a dying man cries, it is not because of where he is going which he knows nothing about, but because of what he wishes he would have done in the world he is leaving behind

   COURAGE

   1. He who does not look ahead always remains behind.
   2. Courage is the father of success.
   3. Charms do not perform miracles on the shelf; they perform for those who are brave

      FAMILY

      1. A family name is not cooked and eaten, one's life is the thing.
      2. A person who has children does not die.
      3. We can not choose who our relatives should be, even though we may come to like some better than others.
      4. A woman who is not successful in her own marriage has no advice to give to her younger generations.
      5. When a man loses his prestige, he does not regain it by going to where he is not known.
      6. A good name is better than gold.
      7. A man that begets a barren cannot have a grand child.
      8. A piece of iron can only become what the blacksmith says it should become.
      9. A child who fears beating, would never admit that he played with a missing knife.
      10. A child's face is his mirror.
      11. It is the habit that a child forms at home, that follows them to their marriage.
      12. It is an irresponsible adult that creates enmity because of a disagreement that arises between two children.
      13. A child is what you put into him.
      14. "Flog my erring child" comes from the lips, "don't hurt him/her" comes from the bottom of the heart.
      15. Talks that are considered to be important must be made to drag on for so long as to make even the deaf begin to hear it.
      16. Criticism is easy but it does not create.
      17. Love is better than a whip.
      18. A child who has no mother will not have scars to show on his back.
      19. Even as the archer loves the arrow that flies, so too he loves the bow that remains constant in his hands.
      20. When a dying man cries, it is not because of where he is going which he knows nothing about, but because of what he wishes he would have done in the world he is leaving behind.

          FRIENDS

          1. To eat from the same pot with another man, is to take an oath of perpetual friendship with him.
          2. If one imitates the upright, one becomes upright; if one imitates the crooked, one becomes crooked.
          3. Rather than tell a lie to help a friend, it is better to assist him in paying the fine for his offense.

             SURVIVAL

             1. It is the toothless animal that arrives first at the base of the fruit tree, to eat his fill before others arrive.
             2. A child does not die because the mother's breasts are dry.
             3. If the load is too heavy for someone to carry, one would be better off to give the load to the ground to carry.
             4. The tree that cannot shed its old leaves in the dry season, cannot survive the period of drought

                PATRIOTISM

                1. When one is taking a chicken from its roost, the hen is bound to attack with at least its claws.
                2. Even when fire has done its very worst, one still has to resort to it.
                3. When a soup is unpalatable, and the paste of the pounded yam that goes with it is not smooth, that is the time to know a man who loves to eat pounded yam.
                4. A pad that breaks a pot of water does not remain on the head.
                5. A bush fowls' playground is never appreciably spacious.
                6. If the owner of a calabash calls it a worthless calabash, others will join him to use it to pack rubbish.
                7. It is the boast of every juju priest that unless he dies, no thief can ever come to steal his juju away.
                8. What affects the nose must also affect the eyes that must weep for it.
                9. If a greedy eater is near a patient, such a patient can never survive.
                10. There is no elephant that complains about the weight of its trunk. No elephant is burdened by the weight of its tusks.
                11. When the elderly ones in a house travel, the younger ones quickly grow in experience.
                12. It is when there is a stampede, that a person with big buttocks knows that he carries a load.
                13. If a soup is sweet, it is money that cooks it.
                14. If a child is not well-behaved, she is not sent by the mother to go alone to the market to buy things for her.
                15. A glorious past is the work of a glorious man