African Proverb Quotations

We start as fools and become wise through experience

Where I make a living, there is my home

There is no phrase without a double meaning

There is no one who became rich because he broke a holiday, no one became fat because he broke a fast. Ethiopia

The poor man and the rich man do not play together. Ashanti tribe

Money is sharper than the sword. Ashanti tribe

He who lives with an ass, makes noises like an ass

Man counts what he has refused, not what he has given

Though the lion and the antelope happen to live in the same forest, the antelope still has time to grow up. - Cape Coast, Ghana

Though the elephant's tail is short, it can nevertheless keep flies off the elephant

when arguing with a chicken a grain of corn is always wrong

When a needle falls into a deep well, many people will look into the well, but few will be ready to go down after it

The one who asks questions doesn't lose his way

When you are at home, your troubles can never defeat you. - Cape Coast, Ghana

The day the monkey is destined to die, all the trees get slippery

When making a fire people like to join you, when cleaning the ashes you are often alone

When a man is coming toward you, you need not say: ""Come here

To be happy in one's home is better than to be a chief. Yoruba, Nigeria

The sun does not forget a village just because it is small

One cannot both feast and become rich. (Ashanti tribe)

A razor may be sharper than an ax, but it cannot cut wood.

A weapon which you don't have in your hand won't kill a snake

A man who dictates separates himself from others. Somalia

A stranger in town is like a white dog, he gets noticed immedeatly

A stranger does not skin a sheep that is paid as a fine at a chief's court. - Cape Coast, Ghana

It is the duty of children to wait on elders, and not the elders on children

Do not expect speed from a cheap horse - it will only neigh

Do not vacillate or you will be left in between doing something, having something and being nothing. - Ethiopia

If you do not step on the dog's tail, he will not bite you

If you refuse to be made straight when you are green, you will not be made straight when you are dry

By trying often the monkey learns to jump from the tree

Human blood is heavy; the man that has shed it cannot run away

If everybody in town donates one threat, the poor man has a shirt

The frog does not run in the daytime for nothing. - Igbo, Nigeria