| A baby on its mother’s back doesn’t know the journey is long.
2. A bachelor should always spend minimum time with a friend’s wife.
3. A bachelor’s wife doesn’t have ears.
4. A bad cook also has his/her share of the bad food.
5. A bad habit is like fire you can’t play with it and expect not to get burnt.
6. A barren woman is like a leaking pot.
7. A beautiful one hurts the heart.
8. A beggar’s knees are supple.
9. A bird doesn’t alert his fellow bird that a stone is coming.
10. A bird doesn’t forget one who killed off his feathers during the rain
season.
11. A bird may fly off the earth and land on an anthill, but it will still be on
the ground.
12. A bird that prays for rain will find its self soaked.
13. A bird with fire on its tail burns its own nest.
14. A blind person knows his environment more than a visitor with eyes.
15. A bottle that believes it’s cracked to smile it will end up on the dustbin.
16. A boy may cry; but a man as to conceal his pain.
17. A bush that doesn’t rotate baskets must not grow mushrooms.
18. A butterfly thinks itself a bird because it can fly.
19. A camel cannot see the crookedness of its neck.
20. A canoe peddler doesn’t tell the crocodile he has along snout until he’s
crossed the river.
21. A cat in its castle has a lion’s teeth.
22. A cat keeps its crawls inside until it meets a mouse.
23. A centipede is not crippled by the loss of one limb.
24. A chameleon can only change its colour but never change its skin.
25. A chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very day it hatches.
26. A child who knows how to wash his hands will eat with the chiefs.
27. A chief in the village never sees the devil.
28. A chief may have more wives than he can remember but you dare not try
to share his wives with him.
29. A chief should not create a new law when he is angry.
30. A child among elders converses with its ears.
31. A child can play with its mother’s breasts, but not its father’s testicles.
32. A child doesn’t belong to the father or mother; a child belongs to the
ancestors.
33. A child doesn’t breast-feed from a stepmother if its mother is still alive.
34. A child while bathing only scrubs its stomach.
35. A child who eats too much shouldn’t blame is buttock.
36. A child who is fearless is going to bring tears to his mother’s eyes.
37. A child who protested when being stripped on the back by its mother, it’s
humbled by the scorching sun when left to walk.
38. A clean conscience makes a soft pillow.
39. A clear conscience fears no accusation.
40. A cloudy sky doesn’t always cry rain.
41. A cock says it’s because of the situation it is faced with that it has its
knees in the opposite direction.
42. A corn swallowed by a fowl will never germinate in its belly.
43. A corpse doesn’t have time to cover its pubic region.
44. A cow without a tail should not try to chase away flies.
45. A coward always hides behind someone else after he has thrown a stone.
46. A cowardly hyena lives longer.
47. A dead body cannot urge over how it should be placed in the grave.
48. A dead cock never crows.
49. A debt may get mouldy but it never decays.
50. A determined hunter is never frightened in the jungle.
51. A diamond doesn’t lose its value due to lack of admiration.
52. A difficult journey will make you daring and harden your will.
53. A dirty stick makes everyone who touches it dirty.
54. A dog cannot eat a bone tied to a snake.
55. A dog gives birth to a dog.
56. A dog knows its master but not its master’s master.
57. A dog that belongs to every one will die of hunger.
58. A dog will defend its territory though it’s friendly.
59. A dog will not follow its owner to follow a king.
60. A dog you don’t feed will never heed your call.
61. A donkey’s husband can protect it from a hyena.
62. A drowning man will clutch at a straw.
63. A drunkard is like a whisky bottle only neck and belly but no head.
64. A fallen branch cannot bear fruits on its own.
65. A false friend is like a shadow their only with you when the sun is shining.
66. A family is like a thick forest, often from outside its dense, when your
inside each tree has its own position.
67. A family tie is like a tree, it can bend but it cannot break.
68. A father never resembles his son, it’s the son that resembles the father.
69. A father voodoos with his son and a mother voodoos with her daughter.
70. A fatherless boy is no better than unburied seed.
71. A feather is just a delicate thing when removed from a bird because it
carries the bird everywhere in the world.
72. A foot must never quarrel with the ground.
73. A fish and bird may fall in love but the two cannot build a home together.
74. A fish will not live out of water but will prefer air to hot water.
75. A fly that dances carelessly in front of a spider’s web, risks the wrath of
the spider’s teeth.
76. A fly that falls on your wound is more important.
77. A fool and his money is one big party.
78. A foolish head weakens the feet.
79. A foreign cock can never crow in a foreign country.
80. A friend is one who knows every thing about you and still wants to be your friend.
81. A friend to everybody is a friend to nobody.
- A friend who fawns is better than an enemy who smiles.
- A gentle politician doesn’t promise to build bridges where there is no
water.
- A genuine gift is like water when it flows out it can never return.
- A girl’s patience can only be recognised by how long she keeps her
virginity.
- A good beginning is a halfway a battle won.
- A good day shows itself early in the morning.
- A good devil is as equal as to a bad god.
- A good leader was once a good follower.
- A good man gone wrong is usually a bad man found out.
- A good man never stays in the grave forever, he always has chance to
come back.
- A good name is better than wealth.
- A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.
- A good reputation is something you must pay for, but you can never buy.
- A good smile shows how happy the soul is.
- A grasshopper that sleeps about will be soon awake in a lizard’s mouth.
- A gravestone cannot be used for grinding.
- A green grass in the green snake.
- A guard dog cannot watch two homes at once.
100. A guest sees more in an hour than a host in a year.
- A happy man marries the girl he loves, but a happier man loves the girl he
marries.
- A hen’s curses have never killed the eagle.
- A home without a woman is like a barn without a yam.
- A horse may take the warrior to the battlefield but can never fight.
- A house is for a voyage but a tomb is for eternity.
- A hungry calf cannot frisk happily over another with a full stomach.
- A hungry man will thrust his fingers into a snake’s hole in search of a
grasshopper.
108. A hunter who is never satisfied with is gain will one day be forced to carry
home an elephant.
- A hunter with one arrow doesn’t shoot with a careless aim.
- A husband may be the head of a home but the wife is the heart of a home.
- A hyena is used to persistent rains.
- A hypocrite’s hatred is hidden behind flattering words.
- A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.
- A juicy bone is useless to a dog with no teeth.
- A king who doesn’t tolerate comments about his mouth shouldn’t eat in
public.
- A kinsman in trouble has to be saved, not blamed.
- A kola nut is small, but it is more important that it goes round to each
person and not that it fills the stomach.
- A lamb takes after its mother.
- A lazy chick that exposes itself will be a delicious meal for the eagle.
- A lazy man will remember he has not planted when is neighbour is
harvesting.
- A lazy man’s farm is the breeding ground for snakes.
- A leader is he who tells his people what they must hear, not what they
want to hear.
- A leopard is such an elusive animal that it can only be caught by the
combined force of a man and his father-in-law.
- A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is still putting
on its shoes.
- A lizard can’t be a snake even without its limbs.
- A lizard longs to sit down but its tail doesn’t let it.
- A lizard without one leg cannot move up a tree.
- A long lasting visitor grinds the wine.
- A long-tailed animal doesn’t jump over fire.
- A man accused of stealing a goat should not entertain his visitors with
goats meat.
- A man and a goat can be friends but it would be foolishness for the goat to
pay the first visit.
- A man can’t challenge his spirit in a wrestling match.
- A man doesn’t escape from bees with a lump of honey in his hand.
- A man doesn’t know when he kills.
- A man gets to the land of spirits when he passes seven rivers, seven forests
and seven hills.
- A man has to hold his mouth open a long time before a roasted partridge
flies into it.
- A man is always on the move.
- A man is called a drunkard when he misbehaves, not when he drinks.
- A man is not a man until he has a house of his own.
- A man is obliged to beat his own chest when he has no drum.
- A man is taller than every mountain he climbs.
- A man isn’t dead until is buried.
- A man must suffer in silence.
- A man never grows up until his father dies.
- A man should live to prove himself worth of his own flesh and blood.
- A man should not be too happy in the morning.
- A man should not, out of pride and etiquette, swallow his phlegm.
- A man who after his dying speech doesn’t die, bears the same guilt.
- A man who does no hard work will never know the value of rest.
- A man who doesn’t know how to play sex disappears after the first time.
- A man who hides a thorn in his foot earns a swelling.
- A man who is patient is rewarded.
- A man who is putting on his armour for war should not boast like a man
who’s taking it off.
- A man who lives on the banks of the river should not wash his hands with
spittle.
- A man who marries an outcast is like rain wasted in the forest.
- A man who never recognises is mistakes will never know peace.
- A man who smiles when he’s been robbed has stolen something from the
thief.
- A man who touches the bottom of a soup plate with a ball of foofoo is no
longer searching for soup.
- A man will never heed the voice of a woman until it is too late.
- A man will show his true colours in adversity.
- A man with a good will is not only rich but also wise.
- A man’s in-law is his spirit.
- A million of keys will get into a lock but only one will open it.
- A moonlight has a bottom.
- A mother cannot give birth to something bigger than herself.
- A mother of twin should have impartial breasts.
- A mouse does not share a bowl with a cat.
- A new broom sweeps well, but the old broom knows all the corners.
- A newly committed crime awakens sleeping ones.
- A nice place is never yours.
- A palm wine taper does not stop tapping palm wine because he once fell
from the top of a palm wine tree.
- A parent should not give up modelling their children because the ancestors
too never give up on us.
- A parent who says ‘if you were my own child I would have punished you’
is a witch.
- A patient dually determined can fill a pot with water using a fingernail.
- A person cutting the path doesn’t know that it is crooked.
- A person is a person because of other people.
- A person is what he eats.
- A person who has not secured a place on the floor should not begin to look
for a mat.
- A person who is always looking at the sky will never discover anything on
the ground.
- A person who is carrying an elephant on his head should not use his feet to
tap snails on the ground.
- A person who is stung by a bee fears a big housefly.
- A person who sells eggs doesn’t start a fight in the market.
- A person who wants to see is people progress must first set to look into
their tradition.
- A person’s character is like pregnancy it cannot be hidden.
- A person’s cleverness is not shown by how many words he utters at once
but how he utters them.
- A picture is worth a thousand words.
- A poor person has no struggles.
- A potter eats from a broken piece of his pots.
- A pregnant woman cannot claim to be a virgin.
- A rat never goes near a cat’s celebration venue.
- A rat stinks, but it has its own home.
- A rat with many offspring always sleeps with his door open.
- A regular fighter who discords peace is bound to be fought by his own
anger.
- A restless grasshopper eventually ends up in a birds teeth.
- A river doesn’t flow through the forest without felling the trees.
- A river doesn’t run straight because there was nobody to advise it.
- A river that forgets its source will soon dry out.
- A rock in the middle of the sea is never afraid of the rain.
- A ruined people are as miserable as a dog in the house of death.
- A satisfied man doesn’t understand the feeling of a hungry man.
- A scared dog barks to pretend to its master but a brave dog bits to protect
him.
- A second wife cannot celebrate the beating of the first wife because that
same beating awaits her when the third wife arrives.
- A secret remains a secret only when one person knows it.
- A severely under paid hungry teacher in a renovated, well-equipped
classroom, can perform just as well as a bird without feathers can do in a
hanging, decorated cage.
- A short man is not a boy.
- A short person touches where he can reach.
- A short rope ties nothing.
- A sick way between two people can only be cared for if the two of them
die.
- A sin against a brother or sister is an offence against the gods.
- A single slip may cause lasting injury.
- A slave must be humble.
- A sleeping head needs more than its neck to support it.
- A snail that doesn’t crawl with its shell should be ready to die.
- A snake and millipede can both craw on their bellies but this doesn’t make
them brothers.
- A snake can shade its skin but it still remains a snake.
- A spider’s cobweb isn’t only its sleeping spring but also its food trap.
- A spiritual leader is able to see the past, present and the future.
- A spoonful of honey will catch more flies than a gallon of vinegar.
- A stealing dog strengthens its back.
- A stick at the neighbours cannot drive out a leopard at your home.
- A strong man never stays long in the ground.
- A strong person doesn’t rush to wake up early morning.
- A strong tree shall always grow from the roots and not the seeds.
- A sweet lovely voice cannot make a dumb person talk.
- A talkative person is a traveller when he is tired, he keeps quiet.
- A thorn under a baobab tree pricks deeper.
- A tree cannot stand on the ground without its roots.
- A tree climber begins from the bottom not the top.
- A tree is known by its fruit.
- A tree that refuses to dance will be made to do so by the wind.
- A true friend is a special gift.
- A village without the elderly is like a well without water.
- A visitor doesn’t survive from a stick beat of a burglar.
- A warrior is not a wrestler, he’s killed the moment is spear and shield are
over powered.
- A weird child at times brings sweet fruits at home.
- A whisper has more meaning than a noisy talk.
- A white tooth has a bloody root.
- A wind can move the branches of trees but it will never move the head of
a man.
- A wise person must know the language, sayings, and tales of his society.
- A wise saying goes without say.
- A wise will is dedicated to the ancestors for its them who gave you
everything’
- A woman is like a bee treat her well and she will make honey, treat her
badly and she will go wild.
- A woman is never old when it comes to the dance she knows.
- A woman who delivers a baby in the market square has nothing to hide.
- A woman who pursues a man for sex looses her spiritual beauty.
- A woman who runs holding her breast has got nothing pursuing her.
- A woman who wants a child doesn’t sleep in her clothes.
- A woman’s polite devotion is her greatest beauty.
- A word to the wise is enough.
- A word written stays forever than hundred spoken work.
- A worm cannot kill a fly.
- A wound given by a word is many times harder to cure than that which is
given by the sword.
- After the evil cross the crown has come.
- All great truths begins as blasphemies.
- All is well that ends well.
- All plants are our brothers and sisters and they talk to us and if we listen
we can hear them.
- All war follow a demonstrate failure of difficulty diplomacy.
- Almost everyone is mad but some people can control there madness.
- Always stamp your hunting nets where the animal is going to pass.
- An animal that gives birth to a young one in the desert must suckle it in
the desert.
- An army of sheep led by a lion would defeat an army of lions led by a
sheep.
- An egg shouldn’t be deceived by the hardness of its shell; it cannot
challenge a stone in a fight.
- An elder uses old eyes to see and so the young use young eyes.
- An elephant cannot thin to a cow size.
- An elephant that kills a rat cannot be considered a hero.
- An empty hand doesn’t kill a snake.
- An empty sack cannot stand.
- An endless war shames even a hero.
- An immoral father-in-law cannot advise his children well.
- An insolent tongue is a bad weapon.
- An invasion of an army can be resisted but an invasion of ideas can’t be
resisted.
- An old man may miss his target with a stone but never with his word.
- An old man’s mouth produces a bad smell but the words that come out of
it are sweet.
- An only palm-fruit doesn’t get lost in the fire.
- An open mind only hurts those who fear their own mistakes.
- Anger against a brother is felt in the flesh, not in the bone.
- Any dead fish can flow down the river but it takes a live one to swim back
up stream.
- Any weapon is dangerous even to a person handling it.
- Anyone can be polite to a king, but it takes a gentleman to be polite to a
beggar.
- Anyone suffering from a running stomach is never afraid of the dark.
- Anyone who has sold an old lady, knows the price of an old man.
- Anything with a beginning also has an end.
- As long as a cock lives, it is said to have belonged to the child of the
house; but when it is slaughtered for super, it is then that the real owner
emerges.
- As long as I make you to be inferior, I render myself inferior.
- As soon as you question someone’s integrity, it is a reflection of your
own.
- As you do for your ancestors, your children will do for you.
- At a hunting expedition you cannot apportion the meat before you kill the
animal.
- At that particular time a mad person gives you something take it
immediately before he changes is mind.
- Bad officials are elected by poor citizens who do not vote.
- Banish a strong man, banish a strong man but when there is war you will
look for the strong man.
- Be aware of a man with a sweet tongue he can lead you to buying bad
meat.
- Be careful of the words you say each day, make sure each is nice and
sweet, because may be in the days ahead, there will be some you’ll have to
eat.
- Be careful of what you own because what you own might eventually own
you.
- Be careful when you are sharing a calabash of porridge with a toothless
man.
- Be humble in making demands even when making your demands.
- Before buying a house, see who your neighbours will be.
- Before you begin to trade in blame look in the mirror.
- Behind every sweaty face of a cattle rustler is a story of determination and
courage.
- Being a good friend of a scorpion doesn’t mean that you can’t be stung by
a honeybee.
- Being a swimmer and spending time in the water does not make you a
fish.
- Being blind doesn’t mean one cannot dream or imagine.
- Being in the forest and failing to see trees is a curse.
- Better a calamity to be far away.
- Better give birth to a sweating baby than a laughing one.
- Better stay with the devil you know than an angel you don’t know.
- Better to aim at comfort’ than at luxury.
- Better to bit your tongue than biting your words.
- Beware of time because it has the answers.
- Birds sing not because they have answers but because they have songs.
- Blessings of ancestors are greater than those of a living human being.
- Bones and flesh of the martyrs lie buried in earth, but their revolutionary
spirit and single-hearted fidelity remain alive.
- Born by the fire and die by the fire.
- Breaking news of the dead in the right way is very important.
- Buy the truth but never sell it.
- By the time you tell a secret to a mad person then a normal person you
cannot see.
- Call a cat a cat.
- Chop your own firewood and it will warm you twice.
- Cleverness is better than strength.
- Clothes make the man.
- Cream always rises to the top.
- Dancing depends on the parents.
- Daybreak, mouth open.
- Death is a thief.
- Debt is slavery.
- Defeat is not failure but trail is total failure.
- Defiance is the biggest weapon of the weak.
- Despise not a snail for its slow and struggling movement; it has a
destination and with time it shall arrive.
- Despite the beauty of the moon, sun and the stars, the sky also has a
threatening thunder and striking lightening.
- Do not eat the fingers that feed you.
- Do not run away from a pond of water.
- Do not speak badly of a crocodile when your leg is in the river.
- Do not walk behind us, we may not lead; do not walk in front of us, we
may not follow; walk besides us, so that we may guide each other.
- Don’t admire the flying bird before you know the pain of flapping.
- Don’t be stupid to replace wisdom with knowledge because you will lose
understanding.
- Don’t beat the drums of war unless you’re ready to fight.
- Don’t count the many times a man falls but those times he rises up.
- Don’t enter a defecating competition against an elephant.
- Don’t ever try to give a spear to a former mad man.
- Don’t give a dog a bad name in order to have an excuse to burn it.
- Don’t insult the dead.
- Don’t laugh at others.
- Don’t laugh at the nakedness of our ancestors because before their eyes
we’re all naked for our spirits belong to them.
- Don’t let a fool kiss you no let a kiss fool you.
- Don’t let your past dictate your future.
- Don’t look at the visitor’s face but at his stomach.
- Don’t look into the eyes of your lover, or you will see what he has told
many women before.
- Don’t loose hope no situation is permanent.
- Don’t make a goat your friend if your skirt is made of plantation leaves, or
else it will strip you naked.
- Don’t move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the
fatherless.
- Don’t question a blind man for buying a mirror, it must serve him some
purpose.
- Don’t respond to a mosquito bit with a stone because you will miss it and
hunt yourself.
- Don’t see animals around the village and say there is nobody to hunt them.
- Don’t seek to hurt any man, but if any man seeks to hurt you may he break
his neck.
- Don’t tell your important secret to your friend because your friend has his
other friends as well.
- Don’t throw away your nets if you catch nothing, you never know what
the gods are planning next.
- Don’t underestimate the determination of a quiet person.
- Don’t underestimate the wisdom of ancestors.
- Don’t undermine my silence, its got reason; don’t rate it, it as got no scale.
- Don’t wait for an anthill to build up in your mushroom better attack its
origin sooner than later.
- Don’t water your friend’s garden when yours is full of weeds.
- Dreams are related to the past but connected to the future.
- Dreams are voices of ancestors.
- Dry thunder that tears the sky doesn’t make you forget the storm of
yesterday.
- Ears that do not listen to advice, accompany the head when it is chopped
off.
- Eating a lot does not satisfy greediness.
- Eating is kinship.
- Eating tough meat is always harder for a toothless lion.
- Enjoy breakfast all alone, share lunch with your best friend and give
dinner to your enemy.
- Even a healer’s lies are a big relief to a sick person.
- Even a horn can be stopped from fighting and made to sing forever.
- Even boiled water can extinguish a fire.
- Even drumsticks are heavy on the way home after the dance.
- Even if the hen is poor it cannot leave blank eggs.
- Even if you close your eyes while looking in the mirror the image remains
yours.
- Even if you dance for you enemy on the rock, he will accuse you of
splashing water on him.
- Even if you rease your clothes in very hot water you still need to dry them.
- Even if you remain an island you must still be friendly to the sea.
- Even the colours of a chameleon are for survival not beauty.
- Even the dog leaves the market.
- Even the high and noble bow before the barber.
- Even the starving man cannot eat the king’s regurgitate.
- Even though the elephant is huge enough it cannot carry a big tail.
- Even two friendly dogs cannot share a single bone.
- Even when a goat knows that it is being dragged to graze, it still resists.
- Even when a snake doesn’t bit, do not put your finger in it’s mouth.
- Even when you dig a soft place, you still leave the garden.
- Every action has its repercussions.
- Every bad person deserves a bad problem.
- Every exit is an entry to somewhere.
- Every fresh banana leaf should eventually become a dry banana leaf.
- Every frog is a gazelle in the eyes of its mother.
- Every misfortune is a blessing.
- Every old man was once a young man but not every young man will
become an old man.
- Every time you have something good there is someone who wants you to
throw it so as they can pick it.
- Everyone has a right to be stupid some just abuse the right.
- Everything has a pattern and a partner.
- Everywhere there is a lot of mad even an elephant will slip.
- Evil prospers because good men fail to act.
- Fire is always a good maid, but a bad boss.
- Fire that is surrounded by elders cannot burn you.
- Firewood yields ash.
- Follow the liar right to his door.
- Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man, but he ends up with gravel in
his mouth.
- Foolhardiness made the rat try to jump over the fireplace.
- For one to succeed in life, one has to work hard.
- For the fisherman, the fun is over when the fish are in the net.
- Fun is like fine beer it is rarely enjoyable alone.
- Generally with life you will be betrayed by close relatives.
- Generosity has its disadvantages.
- Generosity is white and pure like milk.
- Get hold of the little you have as you struggle for more quantity or quality.
- Get what to lend out and at the same time how to demand it back, for
payment might be a tussle.
- Getting only a beautiful woman is like planting a vine on the roadside
everyone feeds on it.
- Give a stammerer enough time and he will pronounce his father’s name.
- Give me a fish and I will eat today, teach me to fish and I will eat for a
lifetime.
- Going slowly doesn’t stop one arriving.
- Good music goes with good food.
- Good resolutions are like babies crying in church, they should be carried
out immediately.
- Good things are hot.
- Grass doesn’t grow on a bushy road.
- Great men think alike.
- Happiness is like a perfume, you cannot pour it all on others without
allowing a few drops to fall on yourself.
- Happiness is not perfected until it is shared.
- Happiness often sneaks through your door when you left the door open.
- Happy is a man who goes hunting for rats and catches an elephant.
- Haste and hurry can only bear children with many regrets.
- Haste makes waste.
- Having a goal is just a dream with a deadline.
- Having beauty doesn’t mean understanding the perseverance of marriage.
- He is a fool who praises the fruit of a tree and forgets its roots.
- He is a wise man who has no worries about the things he doesn’t have but
he rejoices for those things that he has.
- He that beats the drum for the mad man to dance is no better than the mad
man himself.
- He that dines with the gods must do so with a very long spoon.
- He that fights for a ne’er-do-well has nothing to show for it except a head
covered in earth and grime.
- He that fought the lion must surely have the lion’s claws in his body.
- He who angers you controls you.
- He who asks for the meaning of a proverb has called her/his mother’s
dowry a waste.
- He who asks you to converse ends up telling others that you’re shouting.
- He who banishes you is the one who shows you the way.
- He who brings firewood infected with maggots in his house should not
complain when lizards start visiting him.
- He who burns down his house knows why ashes cost a fortune.
- He who came to work never sleeps.
- He who cannot rest, cannot work; he who cannot let go, cannot hold on; he
who cannot find footing, cannot go forward.
- He who chews two bones at the same time will surely bite his tongue.
- He who crosses a bridge to paradise and blows it after him is going to hell.
- He who defects on the way finds flies on his way back.
- He who dies of over eating doesn’t wither.
- He who does is work properly has been well advised.
- He who doesn’t clean his mouth before breakfast always complains that
the food is sour.
- He who doesn’t console the bereaved will never be mourned by others.
- He who doesn’t feel jealousy is not in love.
- He who doesn’t find is way back from the forest gets lost within it.
- He who doesn’t know a grave’s coldness, doesn’t give the dead their
respect.
- He who doesn’t know how a snake smells shouldn’t walk into the forest.
- He who doesn’t know what kills can sit on fire.
456. He who doesn’t know where he is going doesn’t know whether or when he
will arrive.
- He who doesn’t know you, will not value you.
- He who doesn’t listen to advise from others goes to his parents in-law
smeared with faeces.
- He who drinks wine without libation is a traitor to the gods.
- He who eats an egg foregoes a future meal of chicken soup.
- He who falls, teaches others a lesson.
- He who fears fire cannot be a leader.
- He who feeds the child must be allowed to lick his fingers.
- He who feels it, knows it.
- He who forgets his past is lost.
- He who gets annoyed of darkness ends up knocking himself everywhere.
- He who guards his lips, guards his life.
- He who has brothers has more than riches can buy.
- He who has given up doesn’t blame the one moving on.
- He who has got experience can milk a running cow.
- He who has no pond must not breed crocodiles.
- He who has people is richer than he who has money.
- He who has the choice has the pain.
- He who holds somebody on the ground is holding himself too.
- He who is always in a hurry to get things done he never gets it done right.
- He who is close to you knows more about you than he who is far away.
- He who is first to receive something forgets when his friend will receive
their share.
- He who is grown up should respect and love others.
- He who is intelligent is taught.
- He who is not beaten by the sun or the rain, will eventually be beaten by
the hunger.
- He who is not happy with the position of the sun should climb and change
it.
- He who is wise endeavours to learn how to understand the truth not less
than that.
- He who isn’t around is never beaten by the falling tree.
- He who judges others and never allows to be judged looses friends.
- He who knows that he has enough is rich.
- He who lends out his door should be ready for the cold blowing wind.
- He who lies by the fireside knows how it burns.
- He who misleads you cannot buy you.
- He who moves with each day is better than another who waits for luck.
- He who never eats pumpkins with you, you prepare a few slices for him.
- He who never knows where is coming from will never know where he is
going.
- He who never moves about appreciates only one’s mother’s cookery
skills.
- He who predicts or prophesise isn’t the one who causes his predictions to
take shape.
- He who pursues a hatched bird teaches it how to fly.
- He who reminds you or corrects you is better than he who slanders you.
- He who sacks his wife because she eats a lot will end up marrying a
cannibal.
- He who says we shall hear what happened never responds to any alarm of
agency.
- He who says what will I do will never lack what to do.
- He who solves a problem with a problem will always have a problem in
waiting.
- He who starts his work early enough is neither hit by the severe sun heat
nor the burning sand.
- He who swallows an old man vomits grey hair.
- He who talks forgets what he said but he who listens can’t forget.
- He who talks to you while travelling at night is thanked in the morning.
- He who tries to shake a tree stump shakes only himself.
- He who ventures into the bush should close his ears to rattling.
- He who visits you personally is better than another who sends a delegate.
- He who wakes up and finds himself a success hasn’t been asleep.
- He who wakes up early in the morning receives a bundle of blessings.
- He who wanders along the beach doesn’t eat his rice dry.
- He who wants authority should never be a visitor.
- He who wants to plant corns must make peace with the monkeys.
- He who wants to take much dies before going to the in-laws for
introduction.
- He who will be a man can be seen from how he stretches is little manhood.
- Him with is own knowledge know how to eat from it.
- Him with a bold head knows how to protect it through thorns.
- Him with a bushy field cannot harvest edibles from it.
- Him with a clean future has a clean past.
- Honest advice doesn’t destroy true friendship.
- Hooting all right and sleeping all day, doesn’t make an owl wise.
- Hope is a good thing and good things never die.
- How come that when I lost my sheep and could not find it, I was
questioned; but the hyena who was found with the sheepskin is not
questioned.
- How ever big a rat is, it can’t threaten a cat.
- However hot the sun, it will never dry the sea.
- However long the dry season takes a seasonal river will never forget
where it used to pass.
- However loud an ant shouts from the ground, no one will hear it.
- I have learnt your language so I can damn you.
- Ideas are worth a dime dozen, but people who put them into action are
priceless.
- If a bachelor who uses firewood for cooking runs away in the morning to
avoid removing the ash; he will have to deal with it when he comes back.
- If a bird bills the rock then it trusts its beck.
- If a cat wants to look after your fish don’t believe him.
- If a dog bites you once it’s his fault, but if it bites you again it’s your fault.
- If a dog bites you, you don’t attack it but you attack its owner.
- If a man returns from a long journey and no one says welcome back to
him he feels like one who has not arrived.
- If a man rides on the back of a tiger, he should never be surprised if he
ends up in its tummy.
- If a mother steals with a child stripped in the back what do you expect of
the child.
- If a soldier doesn’t have ambitions to become a general is not a good
soldier.
- If a tree is cursed even its shade is unclean.
- If all snakes live together in one place who would approach them.
- If an insect as ever bit you when you see it, you kill it or run away.
- If I see you often, I can’t call you a visitor.
- If it is not broken don’t try to fix it.
- If money where to be found up in the trees, most people would be married
to monkeys.
- If nakedness promises to cloth you then look at its name.
- If one didn’t laugh, one would have to cry.
- If opportunity doesn’t knock build a door.
- If rain beats the teeth, the lips get the blame.
- If she can’t dig or cook send her back to her father.
- If someone is waiting for something important they wouldn’t die until they
achieve it.
- If the banana pest doesn’t die it will always reach at the ripe banana.
- If the fish comes out of the river to tell you that the crocodile has one eye,
you should believe it.
- If the goat rejects the grass, its belly is full.
- If the nail decided to malinger, it would not pierce butter.
- If the sun said it had power over the moon then let it come and shine at
night.
- If the throat can grant passage to a knife, the anus should wonder how to
expel it.
- If there is something one really wants to achieve, one is willing to go an
extra mile and overcome the difficulties to achieve it.
- If two brothers fight over their father’s land, it is a stranger who will enjoy
there sweat and labour.
- If water were enough, fish would not take bait.
- If we do what we always did we will always remain what we always
we’re.
- If wisdom is measured by the size of the beard then the goat is a
philosopher king.
- If you are digging a pit for your enemy, don’t make it too deep, for you
may fall into it.
- If you befriend a mosquito it will still attack you at night.
- If you borrow from an eagle you will always be looking up in the sky.
- If you break a coconut on a man’s head, he will not enjoy eating it.
- If you can bear the hissing of a snake, don’t complain when you are bitten.
- If you can’t distinguish how to whistle a festival alarm from a warning
alarm, then better not alarm and let s/he who knows the difference to do
the alarming.
- If you can’t eat a little your mouth stinks.
- If you can’t hold children in your arms, please hold them in your heart.
- If you can’t stand the heat then get out of the kitchen.
- If you cannot moan in a true cultural manner then it means your laughing.
- If you chase two rabbits you will catch none.
- If you choose to lie down with dogs, you must be prepared to wake up
with fleas.
- If you choose to make friendship with a pig you must be prepared to live
in the mad.
- If you close your eyes because of the bad people around you, you will not
see the good people passing by.
- If you close your eyes to facts, you will learn through accidents.
- If you cry and receive someone to help you cry more then you cry more.
- If you cry because you miss the sun, your tears will not let you see the
moon.
- If you cure a monkey of its tooth ache its your maize farm that suffers.
- If you dance with the devil you can’t change him but he will change.
- If you decide to dress up a lizard you should count for its tail.
- If you dig a hole to bury a person but instead of burying that person you
may be the one to be buried in this place.
- If you don’t eat mangos that fall on the ground, be sure to be strong
enough to pick ones on the tree.
- If you don’t inquire, you’re bound to make mistakes.
- If you don’t know the path to the spring or swamp, follow the trail of
broken pots.
- If you don’t know where your going to then any road will take you where
you’re going.
- If you don’t mend up a small crack on the wall you end up building the
entire wall.
- If you don’t scale the mountain, you can’t view the plain.
- If you don’t want a tail of a monkey to touch you then don’t attend the
monkey dance.
- If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
- If you flog a baboon because it is ugly, you will end up killing it.
- If you get annoyed of what you see, you blame your eyes.
- If you give a handshake to the leopard, next time he will come for an
embrace.
- If you give bad food to your stomach, it drums for you to dance.
- If you go to your in-laws you do not come back empty handed but with a
cock.
- If you hate your ancestors then assume your dead than you will love the
hereafter.
- If you have a dog to worship you, you must have a cat to ignore you.
- If you have a poor father that is destiny; if you have a poor father-in-law,
that is your mistake.
- If you have ground nuts in your room expect rats.
- If you have health you have hope you have everything.
- If you have patience you can take out the holes of an anthill.
- If you haven’t any sheep you won’t know that a fox is a wild animal.
- If you haven’t done anything evil then you shouldn’t be worried about
devils knocking on your door.
- If you hide a sick person, your lamentation alarm will only announce his
death.
- If you ignore your own relatives you will serve the outsiders.
- If you keep stirring at a girl you cannot have you will never see a girl you
can have.
- If you keep your head and heart going in the right direction you don’t have
to worry about your feet.
- If you kill time, you’ll bury opportunities.
- If you knock your head against a wall, then a coconut tree and pillar and
your head still remains undamaged my child, go and hide that head of
yours; it is a good head.
- If you lie the ancestors will punish you.
- If you live by the river you can hear the crab cough.
- If you live in a glasshouse you should not throw stones.
- If you man is a wizard, you must become a witch.
- If you need ears go and borrow them from the elephant.
- If you are not an animal you will never find yourself in a trap.
- If you observe attentively you will even find wisdom in shadows.
- If you offer to share your seat with a person who has a big bottom your
bound to lose it completely.
- If you pay homage to the man on top, others will pay homage to you when
it’s your turn to be on top.
- If you point one accusing finger at others, three fingers will point at you.
- If you put a bone in the dog’s mouth it doesn’t bark.
- If you run too fast you bypass a safe place you would have hidden
yourself.
- If you see an animal running in the early morning know that it is running
away from something more scarily than the due.
- If you see your brother being scalped, put water on your hair.
- If you think education is expensive try ignorance.
- If you think you’re too small to be noticed go and sleep in a room which is
full of mosquitoes.
- If you tie a frog on the leg a snake will follow you.
- If you travel with lies you will reach your destination but you might be
unable to retrace your steps.
- If you debark a tree don’t expect it to live again; you can only plant
another of its kind.
- If you value piece and freedom you will loose it.
- If your vision is for a year plant wheat, if you vision is for a decade plant
trees, and if your vision is for a lifetime plant people.
- If you wait for the roasted liver to cool it will get cold in someone else’s
mouth.
- If you wait you may never start.
- If you want a better tomorrow do good today.
- If you want people to understand you, you speak their language.
- If you want to blame the fox, then blame the hen too.
- If you want to drink clear water from a well be there first.
- If you want to eat a monkey, don’t look in its eyes.
- If you want to eat a toad you should look for a fat and juicy one.
- If you want to fight fire, you don’t wear a skirt made of dry grass.
- If you want to grow a long tooth you must have enough lips to cover it.
- If you want to improve your memory, lend someone money.
- If you want to know how long a man’s tongue is, let him use his mouth to
lick honey from a plate.
- If you want to remove a mountain start with one stone at a time.
- If you want to sit under a shade in your old age plant a tree now.
- If you want to smear somebody’s face with mud, be prepared to dirty your
hands.
- If you wait for the downfall of the king, god will not make it sound.
- If you want visitors then you leave your front door open.
- If you waste time, surely time will waste you.
- If you were in a place you take care of it has if it where yours.
- If you wait be prepared to be stung by the bees.
- If you what the hyena to eat a person then tie on him goats ears.
- If you’re a good person even after death your grave is loved.
- If you’re filled with pride then you will not have room for wisdom.
- If you’re holding someone you can drop him and move on.
- If you’re not at the war front its easy to assume we didn’t put up a good
fight.
- If you aren’t in your own home, you dance while seated.
- If you’re to cure a chicken you do so while it is still kicking.
- If you’re to jump a swamp, you need to make one long hurdle.
- If you’ve never been to a pit latrine, you will never know that cockroach is
a chief.
- If you’re caught in a trap then you’re the thief.
- If your husband has many wives, the only sure way for him into you’re the
bedroom is through a delicious meal.
- If your mouth is in someone else’s kitchen it cannot get its independence.
- If you’re not thankful then you’re a wizard.
- If you’re very unkind today don’t expect favours tomorrow.
- In a community it’s better every person to have a little of something than
one person to have everything.
- In a family if you have somebody who is troublesome it’s the family
members who are worried than the troublesome member.
- In a strange land one should always move near one’s kinsmen.
- In good times friends know you and in bad times you know them.
- In the absence of water lizards can claim to be crocodiles.
- Innocence can be an offence.
- Instead of being near a pagan you rather be near an animal.
- It costs you your good spirit to steal than buying or seeking.
671. It doesn’t matter how slowly you walk, just as long as you don’t stop.
- It is a foolish fly that is buried with a corpse.
- It is a man with a harp who should decide how he is going to sleep.
- It is a person suffering from cold who will first think of closing the door.
- It is a stupid dog that barks at an elephant.
- It is a surprise that the cock should hold a grudge against the pot, instead
of the knife that killed it.
- It is better to walk fast than to grow angry at the forest.
- It is childish to remain in a hole when you can take yourself out.
- It is difficult for two long-nosed lovers to kiss.
- It is easier to carry an empty cup than one that is filled to the brim.
- It is easier to catch a bird at night than day.
- It is from listening to old men that you learn wisdom.
- It is hard even for the most selfish man to eat fish in the darkness.
- It is impossible to tie a knot without the thumb.
- It is in the eyes of a lazy man that maize will ripen.
- It is in the house of a coward that people gather and point to the tomb of
yesterday’s warrior.
- It is not by watching a newly wed wife that she is going to become
pregnant.
- It is not right to ask a man with elephantiasis of the scrotum to take on
small pox as well, when thousands of other people have not had even their
share of small diseases.
- It is not the lamb that should go and ask the lion if it has had dinner.
- It is not the things in the soup that I am afraid of but perhaps the person I
am eating with.
- It is odd for a dog to look unconcerned when a sheep is barking at a
stranger.
- It is only a fool who says when he can’t walk, ‘lets run’.
- It is only a mad dog that barks at a flying bird.
- It is only a stupid cow that rejoices at the prospect of being taken to a
beautiful abattoir.
- It is only the eagle that can give an account of the whisper of the cloud.
- It is only the early risers who succeed in filling their baskets with white
ants.
- It is only the foolish cock that believes the sun won’t rise if he doesn’t
crow.
- It is only when you look down that you can see your nose.
- It is possible to kill a man but it is impossible to kill his name.
- It is the absence of a cat that allowed the rat to climb onto the table.
- It is the cloth of an orphan that is often given to the guest.
- It is the spirit that walks a person through darkness.
- It is the traveller who carries the news.
- It is unwise for one to think that a hen will ever be accorded respect in the
land of the hawks.
- It is when one holds the sacrificial lamb that he begins to seek the gods.
- It may take a lot of time to fabricate a lie but the truth only takes seconds
to elevate.
- It requires a lot of carefulness to kill a fly that touches on the scrotum.
- It s the discontented fish that envies the solely bird.
- It takes a breast for a child to know it’s mother and it takes a mother for a
child to know its father.
- It takes a season for a snake to change into its new skin.
- It will be fool’s hardy for the ant to chase an elephant.
- If you stoop to see your neighbour’s anus, then your own anus is wide
open for others to see, even more easily and clearly.
- It’s a friend who gives you advice.
- It’s always hard to convince a hungry person.
- It’s better fast than later.
- It’s better not to rise at all than to rise and fall.
- It’s better to ask than to steal.
- It’s better to be punished for telling the truth than to be rewarded for
saying lies.
- It’s better to break than to bend.
- It’s better to eat a mushroom in freedom than to eat meat in slavery.
- It’s better to eat pepper and be happy than to eat honey and be sad.
- It’s better to fall from a tree and a break your back than to fall in love and
break your heart.
- It’s better to flee danger and be laughed at than to face danger and be
mourned.
- It’s better to know yourself that someone to tell you who you’re.
- It’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
- It’s better to live with a dumb person than a liar.
- It’s evil to give meat to those who do not eat meat.
- It’s much easier to fall in love than to stay in love.
- It’s not the aroma of the soup that tells you whether it’s sweet or not, but
it’s the tongue’s taste.
- It’s not the monkey on top that make a tree fall but it’s the work and effort
of numerous small insects and ants.
- It’s only a dead man who has everybody on his side.
- It’s only the ant that hears the whispers of the sand.
- It’s only when you aim at one spot that your urine foams.
- It’s out of ignorance that a goat will attend a leopard’s party.
- It’s the big birds that teach the young ones to flight.
- It’s the orator’s wit to make a story appear old.
- It’s the tortoise’s shell, ugly and hard that protects its life long journey on
earth.
- It’s the young trees that make up the forest.
- It’s those ugly caterpillars that turn into beautiful butterflies after seasons.
- It’s too late to fatten a cow on the market day.
- It’s unworthy to dig a new pit to fill up an old one.
- It’s useless to tell a river to stop running; the best thing is to learn how to
swim in the direction it’s flowing.
- It’s wise to do what you’re born to do.
- Its better to stumble with your feet than to stumble with your mouth.
- Judge not your beauty by the number of people who look at you, but rather
by the number of people who smile at you.
- Keep your friends close but remember to keep your enemies closer.
- Kindness is a language, which the blind can see and the deaf can hear.
- Kings beget kings.
- Kinship is like tough gourds when they knock each other they never break.
- Knowledge is better than wealth, you have to look after wealth, but
knowledge looks after you.
- Knowledge is like a garden, if you don’t cultivate it you cannot harvest it.
- Knowledge without wisdom is like water without sand.
- Language is not plain.
- Laughter does wonders for the heart.
- Let us be glad to those who make us happy for their gods who make our
souls happy.
- Life is a teacher.
- Life is like a boat you move on when you paddle and stay in the same
place if not.
- Life is like a mirror if you fawn it, it fawns back and if you smile, it
smiles.
- Life is like riding a bicycle; you don’t fall off unless you stop pedalling.
- Life is like shopping in a market; when you finish, you go home.
- Life is lived forwards, but understood backwards.
- Life is the beginning of death.
- Life is vanity.
- Life is what you make it.
- Life is your ability to breath out every time you breathe in.
- Life without battle is life without victory.
- Like a person, even the moon grows and vanishes in a transitional process.
- Listening is the most difficult skill to learn and the most important to have.
- Living near a lake doesn’t mean you eat fish whenever you need.
- Looking at a king’s mouth, one would never think he sucked from his
mother’s breast.
- Love begets love.
- Love is a painkiller.
- Love is in blood not in talking.
- Love is like cough you can’t hold it back.
- Love never gets lost it’s only kept.
- Maize cannot get justice in a chicken’s court.
- Maize grows well where people have no teeth.
- Man invented language to satisfy is deep need to complain.
- Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.
- Man’s greatest battles are the ones he fights within himself.
- Many hens may be in love with one cock, but none will be jealous of the
other.
- Many rats never drill holes.
- Men die but words live on.
- Migration is a sign of protect.
- Milk and honey have different colours, but they share the same house
peacefully.
- Minds are like parachutes; they only function when they are open.
- Money is like the waters of a sailing river it flows away.
- Monkeys don’t advise there young ones to be careful on trees they just
remind them of the distance to the ground.
- Morning is the start of a day’s work.
- Move like a chameleon, look in front, and watch behind.
- Music and women should not be dated.
- Music speaks louder than words.
- Negotiate with your enemy whilst you are a strong and formidable force,
and he will always fear and respect you, but negotiate at the brink of
defeat, and he will trample you down.
- Never blame a messenger.
- Never dump your old pot just because you have bought a new one.
- Never insult your enemy while you’re laying down unless there is
someone else standing by.
- Never let a friend lie in your sheep farm he might get hungry.
- Never let a handshake pass the elbow.
- Never lose heart because whatever is hot must in the end turn cold.
- Never mock a fowl with raffled feathers it might have won a fight.
- Never travel with a friend who disserts you at the notice of danger.
- Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
- Nicknames are the hardest stones the devil can throw at a man.
- No cloth can be better than your skin.
- No goal is unachievable.
- No man can outwit the ancestors.
- No man is a hero to his debtors.
- No matter how angry a rat may be it will be eaten by a cat.
809. No matter how beautiful and well crafted a coffin might look, it will not
make anyone wish for death.
- No matter how big a child is, he cannot deny that he was once carried on
the back of a woman.
- No matter how big the butterfly may be, it cannot be called a bat.
- No matter how close the ear is to the eye they can’t see each other.
- No matter how tough the current of a river may be it is the calabash that
triumphal over the river.
- No matter how far you are from your house, you will keep going until you
get home.
- No matter how far you have walked in the wrong direction certainly you
have to turn back and take the right direction.
- No matter how fast a man can run, he can never chase his shadow and
catch it.
- No matter how good a hunting dog is it cannot kill a leopard.
- No matter how high the bird flies, a hunter sets is trap on the ground.
- No matter how high the vulture may choose to soar, the eagle will remain
king of the sky.
- No matter how hot your anger may be it cannot cook.
- No matter how huge a hook may be it cannot catch fish in a river.
- No matter how hungry the vulture, it will never eat grass.
- No matter how kind a man might be he cannot accept to share his wife.
- No matter how long a bird lives in a cage, it will always want to escape.
- No matter how long a fallen tree stays in the river it can never be a
crocodile.
- No matter how long a stick may stay in a river, it will never change into
fish.
- No matter how long and winding the road might be, it will always lead
you to your destination.
- No matter how much you feed a lizard it cannot become a crocodile.
- No matter how often a man quarrels with his wife he doesn’t do so during
the hours lending to bedtime.
- No matter how old you may be the future will always be ahead of you.
- No matter how painful the loss, the bereaved won’t be buried with the
corpse.
- No matter how poor a village, there is always one rich man.
- No matter how powerful a man, he cannot make the rains fall on his farm
alone.
- No matter how rich a man may be he cannot sleep on two beds at ago.
- No matter how sharp a knife is, it can never cut its handle.
- No matter how sharp your teeth are, you can’t bite water.
- No matter how short a man is, he will always see the sky.
- No matter how small a pin can be a hen cannot swallow it.
- No matter how tall a camel is, it will never get taller than the hair on its
back.
- No matter how tall a tree might grow it will always shed its leaves on the
ground.
- No matter how tight a monkey’s trousers are, there is always space for his
tail.
- No matter how well tamed a lion, it will one day go back to the bush.
- No matter how wise you are, you cannot trace footsteps in water.
- No matter how black a cow is the milk is always white.
- No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails.
- No pestle can be bigger than its mortar.
- No sin goes unpunished.
- No sweat, no sweet.
- Not all men who walk in the street naked are crazy.
- Not all the baboons that enter a maize field come out satisfied.
- Not everything on the body that swells is a boil.
- Not everything that glitters is gold or diamond.
- Nothing on earth is greedier than the eye.
- Of what good is giving birth when later there regrets of disrespect.
- Old men and women in the village are books of history and wisdom.
- On the day a monkey dies, all the trees are slippery.
- Once bitten by a snake you feel suspicious even when you see a piece of
rope.
- Once the teeth are together they can crack the bone.
- Once you’ve started a competition, you must carry it to the finish.
- One can see it but must not say, when the master of a house passes excreta
in a pot.
- One cannot put out fire with fire.
- One day cannot make an elephant rot.
- One decade is long enough to change the looks of mountains and rivers.
- One doesn’t call a hyena to displine a troublesome goat.
- One finger cannot wash the whole face.
- One man’s meat is another man’s pet.
- One only realises the importance of a well when the water dries up.
- One who carries a pot of honey doesn’t envy the sugarcane farmer.
- One who causes others misfortune also teaches them wisdom.
- One who eats alone cannot discuss the taste of the food with others.
- One who said ‘I know everything’ built a house without a door.
- One with more firewood than you, has more ash than you.
- Only a fool will use both his legs to test how deep a spring is.
- Only a goat that is tired of life invites a lion to dinner.
- Only a knife can best tell a child when to leave it.
- Only a patient man can milk a lioness.
- Only a well-taught groom deserves a bride.
- Only birds with long beaks can drink from deep pots.
- Only the person who wears the shoe feels it when it pitches.
- Only those who do nothing never make a mistake.
- Open your ears to the ancestors and you will understand the language of
spirits.
- Optimism is a mania for saying all is well when one is in hell.
- Ours is ours, but mine is mine.
- Pain is inevitable suffering is optional.
- Patience over wins a lot of ill.
- People are like chameleons; circumstances make them change their colour.
- People who drink to drown their sorrows, should be told that sorrow
knows how to swim.
- Praise of the moon the god.
- Pray for good harvest, but keep on hoeing.
- Pregnancy could not be covered with the hand.
- Problems come in threes.
- Wise sayings are men.
- Quiet people are like still water their deep.
- Regrets are much like grandchildren; they come much later.
- Remember the wisdom of your ancestors in order to become wise.
- Remember your ancestors because you’re not better than them.
- Removing a peace of yam from the pot of yam doesn’t stop the rest from
cooking.
- Roaring lions kill no prey.
- Running water can never jump over a hole in the ground.
- Sanity is the playground for the unimaginative.
- Search for a friend with no faults and you will remain with no friends.
- Shame to the house where the hen crows and the cock is silent.
- She is beautiful; she has love, understands; she respects herself and others;
everyone likes, loves and honours her; she is a goddess.
- She who gives birth to triplets cannot ask for a third breast.
- She who grinds millet should have wisdom about rainy clouds and winds.
- Silence brings wisdom of the ancestors.
- Slashing isn’t digging nor is digging called sowing.
- Society is like a pot it can’t carry water when its broken.
- Soldiers don’t cry.
- Some birds are not meant to be caged there feathers are to blight and there
meant to fly.
- Someone who doesn’t listen to others deserves not to be listened too.
- Someone who wants everything looses everything.
- Something that doesn’t talk how does it refuse.
- Something you think that is nice when you get into contact with it, it
seizes to be nice.
- Sometimes a lie is kinder than a truth.
- Sometimes the face can tell what the lips can’t say.
- Sometimes the spirits speaks for you and sometimes the spirits makes you
speak.
- Sometimes you need to die in order to live again.
- Sorrow may sadden your face but it sharpens your understanding.
- Stronger than an army is a quotation whose time has come.
- Students are the only consumers who do not want what they pay for.
- Success in life largely depends on how you handle your failures.
- Success is a ladder which cannot be climbed with hands in your pocket.
- Sudden frightening occurrence knows no brave person.
- Sunshine always follows a dark night.
- Sweetness attracts more flies than sourness.
- Take what you need and leave our land the way you found it.
- Talking is cheap until you hire a lawyer to do it for you.
- Teaching a monkey to eat with a fork and knife will never make it a man.
- Tears cannot bring you joy but joy can bring you tears.
- Tears never flow in the house of a coward.
- Tears will not stop flowing for someone who is crying for himself.
- Teenagers act like babies if they are not treated like adults.
- Tell your friend a lie, if he keeps it secret, then tell him the truth.
- That what comes to stay has come it cannot return.
- That which got bent while growing when you straighten it, it breaks.
- That which is about to die doesn’t hear the drum beating.
- That you don’t give birth too, you let him or her carry a stone on the head.
- That you eat in the morning passes you through the day.
- The ancestors may annoy you but don’t make a mistake of annoying them
back, they may annoy you forever.
- The animal hide can best be straightened and smoothened when still fresh.
- The animal that escapes the hunter’s spear is only allowed to go.
- The ant that destroys a kola nut lives inside it.
- The antics of a market buffoon provide laughter, but nobody prays that his
child becomes the market buffoon.
- The arrow that missed the head of its target will never hit the tail.
- The attacks of a wild beast cannot be averted with only bare hands.
- The beauty of a woman becomes useless if there is no one to admire it.
- The bee that carries honey in its mouth carries a sting in its tail.
- The best dancer comes from the sitting lounge.
- The best mirror of all is an old friend.
- The best preparation for tomorrow is to make sure today’s work is
superbly done.
- The best way to catch a bird is not by scaring it away.
- The bird is up in the sky but its eyes are on the ground.
- The bird, which flaps its wings too much, will drop its feathers.
- The black cow doesn’t give black milk.
- The blight ness of the moon can only be experienced in total darkness.
- The blind man would like to show the way to others.
- The brave man is not he who doesn’t feel afraid, but he who conquers that
fear.
- The bravery of a lion doesn’t protect it from the spear of a hunter.
- The bubbling flames are not fire.
- The buffalo’s shit is dry on top when inside its wet.
- The buried do not give birth.
- The buttocks are like a married couple though there is constant friction
between them; they will still love and live together.
- The canary that dances along the bush path must have its drummer in the
nearby bush.
- The cat may look like a lion, but that does not make it a lion.
- The ceiling won’t stay when the room is no longer there.
- The cheapest way to improve your looks is to wear a smile.
- The cheapest way to win a person is by a smile.
- The chicken that sits along the road to eat shall never enjoy a good meal.
- The cock belongs to one household, but when it crows it is heard in the
whole village.
- The cock that loses its pace time of cockadoodle should be dressed
otherwise it will misguide you.
- The cockroach cannot be innocent in a court where the hen is judge.
- The cocks that cockadoodle were once eggs.
- The coffin seller wants a long life for himself and a short life for others.
- The cow engenders the man.
- The cow with no tail can only depend on goats to rid himself of flies.
- The danger that threatens the hunting dog, threatens the hunter too.
- The darkest hour is before dawn.
- The dead are among us.
- The dead man doesn’t know the value of his coffin.
- The death of a man doesn’t make his wives men.
- The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.
- The dog never minds not to laugh.
- The downfall of a man is not the end of his life.
- The downfall of man begins with pride.
- The drum is the favourite instrument of the spirits.
- The eggshell cannot be a mother of its resultant offspring.
- The evil everyone does lives after him or her.
- The eye cannot bear loads yet it can tell heavy objects from light ones.
- The eye is not harmed by sleep.
- The eye looking at the sun will not need an adviser before it blinks.
- The eye of a snake is big but no one can put is finger on it.
- The eyes that beheld the chief don’t fear for a court official.
- The eyes that have seen the ocean cannot be satisfied by a mere lagoon.
- The fall of a dead leaf is a warning to the green ones.
- The fish starts to rot from the head.
- The fish that dirties the water will forever swim in dirty water.
- The fly had life even before the dog had its wounds.
- The forest not only hides man’s enemies but its full of man’s medicine,
healing power and food.
- The fox must be chased away first after that the hen might be warned
against wandering into the bush.
- The frog likes water but not when it’s boiling.
- The frowning face of a goat doesn’t prevent it being taken to market.
- The fruits of a tree on the roadside are never eaten ripe.
- The ghosts gossip among each other.
- The goat eats where it’s tethered.
- The gourd that never leaves the boozing centre attains cracks.
- The gourd’s neck cannot be straightened in it’s old age, it can only be
broken.
- The grass may be greener on the other side, but it is just as difficult to cut.
- The grave only calls those death loves.
- The great tree chooses where to grow and we find it there, so it is with the
greatness in men.
- The greatest crime in a desert is to find water and keep silent about it.
- The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.
- The greatest truth is the simplest one.
- The greatness of man’s male organ don’t call it an hydro cell.
- The grindstones can neither be used as a stool nor a headrest.
- The hand that tied the lion knows best how to untie it.
- The happy man rises with the sun.
- The heart doesn’t wear rags.
- The hen doesn’t have breasts, but she can still feed her chicks.
- The hen knows that dawn has arrived but it leaves the duty of crowing to
the cock.
- The homeowner doesn’t eat a little.
- The horns cannot be too heavy for the cow that bears them.
- The hottest music and dance always comes from home.
- The house rat who goes swimming with his friend the lizard will die from
cold.
- The insect that eats the leaf is under the leaf.
- The kite in the skies doesn’t feed on clouds.
- The kola nut stays longer in the mouths of those who value it.
- The length of the rope determines the movement of the goat.
- The leopard that covers its black spots with hamaton dust solution will
truly be exposed when the rain season comes.
- The life of a groundnut lies between two shells.
- The light of a thousand stars doesn’t equal the light of the moon.
- The lion may be king of the jungle but he knows, he shouldn’t stand in the
way of the elephant.
- The madman, who throws a stone into a crowded market, forgets that his
own mother could be hit by his madness.
- The man who counts the bits of food he swallows is never satisfied.
- The man, who eats alone, dies alone.
- The mind of a fool is like a broken pot it will hold no wisdom.
- The monkey and gorilla may claim kinship, but the monkey is a monkey
and the gorilla is a gorilla.
- The monkey is a good boxer, but his hands are short.
- The more mistakes you make the fewer mistakes there left to make.
- The most horrible sight on earth cannot put out the eye.
- The mouth does not know limitations of its master.
- The mouth is stupid after eating it forgets who gave it the food.
- The mouth that eats should not talk, for it risks swallowing a fly.
- The mouth that speaks a lot is liable to hunt a friend.
- The nail that sticks out is the one that gets hammered down.
- The naked truth is always better than the best-dressed lie.
- The noise produced by frogs in the well can’t stop an elephant from
drinking.
- The okra plant doesn’t grow taller than its planter.
- The old lady feels uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb.
- The one chased away with a stick comes back and the one chassed away
with reason doesn’t come back.
- The one who hasn’t strength to pound yams pretends to drive away flies
from the yams.
- The one who is not wrestling says throw him down and we go.
- The one who knows the way to the cemetery carries the tail end of the
coffin.
- The one who shows off himself in every place will one day search for
Where to hide.
- The one who sleeps in his room knows where it is leaking.
- The one who went to the in-laws got trapped in a thorn tree.
- The one who wrestles with a big man will soon wear himself out.
- The one you minimise could be eating meat everyday.
- The opinion of the intelligent is better than the certainty of the ignorant.
- The palm-wine we drink, some people can drink it and remain wise; others
lose all their senses.
- The person who is coming from the bowels of the earth doesn’t despise
even the smallest amount of sunshine.
- The person you know during daytime should also be recognisable during
night time.
- The person you put on your back is one who bites you.
- The persons we eat with are the ones to kills us.
- The power of a leopard resides in its claws.
- The problem with the palace attendant isn’t how to steal the king’s drums
but where to play them from.
- The queen ant feeds on its own ants.
- The rabbit that dances on the broken branch of a high tree must look down
to see how many mouths are opened wide beneath.
- The radiate sun reflections and lightening cannot make a blind person see.
- The raised hand cares not for its own recognition, but for that of the body
below.
- The restless grasshopper only finds rest in the gizzard of a bird.
- The rich have no heart, the lake never floats a pin.
- The road to success is always under construction.
- The rope that hangs a monkey, hangs a baboon as well.
- The roughness of a cotton tree is not known until you get close to it.
- The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay.
- The same teeth that a dog uses to play it uses to bite too.
- The sayings of the wise are like the sharp sticks that shepherds use to
guide sheep.
- The secret of success is to start from scratch.
- The shortest distance between two people is a smile.
- The sky is wide enough for two birds to fly without their wings touching.
- The smoke caused by meat which is roasted does not cause pain in the
eyes of a hungry person.
- The song sang by men when going to hunt is not the same song they sing
when they come back.
- The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes didn’t have tears.
- The spirits are the strength and counsel to the living.
- The start of weeping is always hard.
- The strength of a man can’t be determined by is size.
- The strength of the wolf is in the pack, the strength of the pack is in the
wolf.
- The strong will always rule, it’s only a question of the content of the
strength.
- The strongest man on earth is he who stands alone.
- The strongest person among men is not he who fights everyone but is he
who controls is anger.
- The sun will shine on those who are standing before it shines on those who
are sitting.
- The sweet flying ants will never be birds.
- The sweetness of a kola nut doesn’t lie in its sugar content.
- The tears of a man flow into the stomach.
- The teeth that cannot move in unison cannot bit a piece of meat.
- The teeth that stink together are the ones to bite the meat.
- The tiger that prowls quietly doesn’t mean it’s intimidated.
- The time to make friends is before you need them.
- The time to slap a king is the time when a fly touches on his cheek.
- The time you wake up is your morning.
- The tongue can be so sweet but when the hands are too tough.
- The tongue is not statically smooth.
- The tooth is a fool because it smiles to whom it even dislikes.
- The tortoise said it wants to box, but its hand is too short.
- The tongue weighs practically nothing, but so few people can hold it.
- The two hardest things in life to handle are success and failure.
- The visitor who goes away without eating never comes back.
- The voice that comes to borrow is more humble than the voice that comes
to sake payment.
- The voices of the ancestors are the voices of the gods.
- The water in your well can be very hot, but it will never cook your rice.
- The way a cat walks is not the way it catches a rat.
- The weed that grows by the riverbank will not suffer the effect of draught.
- The white ant is small but it creates the great anthill.
- The wind that carried the mortar will not fail to carry the pestle.
- The wise create proverbs for fools to learn, not to repeat.
- The words of the elders do not lock all the doors, they leave the right door
open.
- The words of the wise become sweet the day after.
- The words you say to tell the truth are as important as the decision to be
truthful.
- The world about us.
- The world has changed dramatically.
- The world is story.
- The worm that exposes itself on the ground is waiting for a lucky bird to
devour it.
- The worst person doesn’t lack some good deeds.
- The worst you can do to truth is to cloth it in lies, you can’t undo it.
- There are many colourful flowers on the path of life, but the prettiest have
the sharpest thorns.
- There are no short cuts to the top of a palm tree.
- There are no witnesses to a dream.
- There is a good reason why natural water never runs at night.
- There is a wise reason why a cock can’t sound like a turkey.
- There is always a winner even in a monkey’s beauty contest.
- There is always one bull of the kraal.
- There is no day that goes without the moon and no day that goes without
sunrise and sunset.
- There is no need to point out the obvious.
- There is no point in living if we cannot take back our culture.
- There is no smoke without fire.
- There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.
- There is no venom like that of the tongue.
- There is no virgin in a maternity ward.
- There is no way you can pour water into a basket and expect the water to
remain.
- They laugh at you when your going but when you came back with a load
they’re a shamed.
- Think like a winner and you will be one.
- Those who make friendship with a club shouldn’t expect a good
handshake.
- Those at piece, work for it.
- Those who are opposed to terrorism should not terrorise others.
- Those who do not forgive break the bridge on which they have to pass.
- Those who get their kola nut cracked by the spirit should not forget to be
humble.
- Those who give birth to nincompoop it’s not their wish.
- Those who have friends in the kitchen don’t starve.
- Those who have not crossed the river yet should not laugh at those who
are drowning.
- Those who judge before they know the facts will learn to shed tears.
- Those who master to climb trees with their teeth are in better position to
tell which barks are bitter.
- Those who move are the ones who see the lion’s footprints.
- Those who never protect the values of their ancestors their soul will never
rest peacefully.
- Those who part from there homeland part with there all life.
- Those who think there too big to do little things are perhaps to small to do
big things.
- Those who walk slowly reach a far, hence to hurry is not worth.
- Though the sky belongs to the bird it can’t fly when it’s raining.
- Thunder cannot make a deaf person hear.
- Time heals all wounds.
- Time is a healer.
- Time is a teacher.
- Time lost is lost forever.
- To a man who only has a hammer in his tool kit, every problem looks like
a nail.
- To be able to love other people you must be able to love yourself.
- To be an ancestral believer is to be a good ancestor.
- To be precautious doesn’t mean fear phobia.
- To cut off the head is no remedy for the headache.
- To handle yourself use your head to handle others use your heart.
- To love that one who never loves you is like rain falling in the forest.
- To neglect one’s ancestors would bring ill-fortune and failure in life.
- To remove a fly from a friend’s forehead never use a hatchet.
- To suffer doesn’t mean to die.
- To travel is to see, to return is to talk.
- To whom to much is given we require too much from him.
- Too many cooks, cooking at the same time makes the day take long to
break.
- Too much happiness brings tears in our eyes.
- Tortoises only make progress when they stick there necks out.
- Tough times don’t last, tough people do.
- Train a child the way he should go and make sure you also go the same
way.
- Travel makes one a stranger.
- Troubles are like babies: the more they are nursed, the better they grow.
- True love means what’s mine is yours.
- Truth and morning become light with time.
- Truth cannot be hidden forever beneath evil.
- Truth is like fire it cannot be hidden under dry leaves.
- Truth is the first victim of war.
- Two cats can never be equal; one will always be bigger than the other.
- Two rams cannot drink from the same bucket at the same time; they will
lock horns.
- United we are a rock, divided we are sand.
- Unless the broken tooth is thrown out the mouth will continue to chew
with caution.
- Until a crab finds itself in a very hot pot of soup, it will never understand
that water can be both cold and hot.
- Until the rotten tooth is pulled out cautiously, the mouth will not have rest.
- Until the snake is dead do not drop the stick.
- Use people who have something to gain, not people with nothing to lose.
- Used recklessly then s/he must have inherited the misused property.
- Victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan.
- Villages that posses culture will never perish even though they may be
small.
- Vision quest should be continuous.
- War is a bad chisel with which to curve out tomorrow.
- Wars are created by people to old to fight for those to young to die.
- Water from another man’s calabash tests differently.
- Water is colourless and tasteless but you can live on it longer than eating
food.
- We shall not give the hyena twice.
- Well-timed silence is the most commanding __expression.
- What comes from the lips reaches the ears, what comes from the heart
reaches the heart.
- What grows quickly, dies quickly.
- What is in a heart of a sober man is on the tongue of a drunkard.
- What is in the yams that a knife doesn’t know.
- What is sweet in a fools mouth will surely finish is money.
- What is tightly rapped is known by only the rapper.
- What kills a calf comes from the udder.
- What makes a fool excited now a wise person had heard before and isn’t
excited.
- What makes a sheep blit loudly the goat had already seen before.
- What makes up an anthill is the effort and order of determined and
organised termites.
- What never kills a herdsman never takes away his cattle.
- What our husband says is what we also say.
- What the elders see while sitting the young ones standing on their toes
won’t see.
- What the gods keep for the poor, no man can destroy.
- What we do with pity another would call it strength.
- What we get takes away our troubles.
- What will kill a dog first blocks its nose.
- What you cook with dislike is what your bound to eat.
- What you do with injustice often backfires.
- What you eat now comes out later.
- What you help a child to love can be more important than what you help
him to learn.
- What you learn is what you die with.
- What you may call small another will call it big.
- Eating what you plant is better than begging for leftovers.
- Whatever nourished the goat until it grew a beard will continue to sustain
him.
- When a blind man is happy he gives money to his child to buy kerosene
for his lamp.
1232. When a blind man tells you he is going to throw a stone, know that his
foot is on the stone.
- When a cat wants to eat its own kitten it accuses them of smelling like
rats.
- When a chick ignores its mother’s warning, the eagle grasps it for a meal.
- When a child is asleep a mother’s attention is on the child’s stomach.
- When a cock invites a cockroach for a birthday party, he has prepared
dinner for himself.
- When a cow is crying, a dog is making a party.
- When a coward sees a man he can beat he becomes hungry for a fight.
- When a cricket is quiet, it is digging.
- When a four-year child is still crawling instead of walking it is time to cry
out.
- When a lion cannot find the flesh to feed on, it has no choice but to eat the
grass.
- When a lion runs and looks back, its not that he is afraid, rather he is
trying to see the distance he has covered.
- When a man cheats on you once, shame on him, when he cheats on you
twice, shame on you.
- When a man curses his own child it is a terrible thing.
- When a bee stings a man, he doesn’t set off to destroy all beehives.
- When a man raises his voice at home, know that he started lowering if
elsewhere.
- When a monkey doesn’t get a banana, he eats chillies.
- When a naked person promises you cloth beware.
- When a new saying gets to the land of empty men they lose their heads
over it.
- When a rat mocks a cat then you know there is a hole nearby.
- When a rat swims with a frog, it dies of cold.
- When a single grass falls from a grass-thatched house it doesn’t leak.
- When a slippery ground lies ahead do not laugh at those who have fallen.
- When a stiff-necked bull stands with its four legs planted firmly and
refuses to move, you cannot make it go ahead only by pulling it by the
reins and using your whip.
- When a stone is identified it cannot destroy a hoe.
- When a tortoise embarks on a journey he doesn’t ask for directions,
because he does not want his enemies to know where he’s going.
- When all the water has gone, only the largest stones will remain on the
riverbed.
- When an abomination has become of age it becomes a tradition.
- When an elephant becomes as small as a monkey, it ceases to be an
elephant.
- When an elephant eats and eats and still cries for more, it is the grass that
will get embarrassed.
- When bad luck chooses you as a companion, even a ripe banana can
remove your teeth.
- When cats are hairdressers, rats will always go around with uncombed
hair.
- When kings lose direction they become servants.
- When many trees fall on top of one another, a wise man removes the one
on top first.
- When one finger is swollen it affects the others.
- When one hand is injured the other nurses it, when both hands are injured
they nurse each other.
- When one man’s curse falls on a person another one breaks it.
- When one tries to shake a big tree, he ends up shaking himself.
- When problems come they carry along with them all their relatives.
- When problems visit a man it arrives with its own bed and table.
- When riding on top of an elephant do not assume there is no dew in the
thicket.
- When the bells are in water they can’t make any sound.
- When the big drum is sounded the small drums keep silence.
- When the bush is on fire the chameleon learns to run first.
- When the buttocks foul the air it’s the head that gets knocked.
- When the cock craws the heart of a debtor skips a bit.
- When the cockroach decides to make the cock its friend it must be ready
to end up in the cock’s stomach.
- When the drummers change their beats the dancers must also change their
Steps.
- When the eye sees you then your bound to go for duty.
- When the head is big it cannot avoid punches.
- When the head of a snake is cut off, the rest of his body is an ordinary
rope.
- When the mother monkey leaves her baby to fall, one must not blame the
dried branch.
- When the rain falls, it falls on both the freeborn and the slaves.
- When the river dries up, we will all see where the crocodile sleeps.
- When the shadow of a tree is bent, straighten the tree, not the shadow.
- When the threads unite, they can tie the lion.
- When there is a big tree, small ones climb on its back to reach the sun.
- When there is a misunderstanding between the left leg and right leg the
entire body falls down.
- When they told the wise goat that the butcher was dead, she asked:
‘really? And is the butcher’s knife dead too?
- When two ageing good friends fight, it’s because of an old grouch.
- When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.
- When vultures surround you, try not to die.
- When water stays for long it stinks.
- When you ask, you become a fool for a little while and when you don’t
ask you become a fool for the rest of your life.
- When you chase a fellow man reserve the strength to switch you back
when he recharges and turns.
- When you cry for rain, you cry for mud too.
- When you fight fire with fire, somebody is going to get hurt.
- When you give a friend a goat, you have to let go of the leash.
- When you lose on the drum-beating if the gods, you lose on the rhythm
and pace of life.
- When you plant a yam it produces another yam.
- When you see a rat running in a fire then what it’s running away from is
hotter than fire.
- When you’re a stranger in a land, if good comes to it may you have you
share and if bad comes let it go to the owners of the land who know what
gods should be appeased.
- When you’re undressed then you’re ready for anything.
- When your friend gives your wife an expensive present, it’s time to get
suspicious.
- When your house is on fire you don’t choose who to help you put out the
fire.
- When your leg is sinking your whole body should fill it.
- When your opponents are you’re friends there must be problems ahead.
- Whenever lightening strikes, everyone runs to cover his or her own head.
- Whenever something stands, another thing stands besides it.
- Where comes a great man he doesn’t come alone.
- Where God boils his yam that is exactly where the devil roasts his fish.
- Where many are gathered, there is much to be said.
- Where rain has ever been trapped before when it rains again it will get
trapped once again.
- Where the heart sleeps is where you’re bound to go at dawn.
- Where the rain falls there is no hunger.
- Where the young know, is where they believe it’s raining.
- Where there are no fools, there would be no wise men.
- Where there is a crippled don’t imitate is disability.
- Where there is a frog, the snake is not far away.
- Where there is life there is hope.
- Where you’ve ever left without a quarrel is where you’re about to return.
- Where you killed from is not where you eat from.
- Where you won’t feast from, you sense it sooner than later.
- Where your mother is born, you can’t call anyone a child.
- Whether the egg crashes on the coconut or the coconut crashes on the egg,
it is the egg that suffers.
- White ants can do no harm to a stone.
- Whoever rides on the lion’s back must surely end up in the lion’s stomach.
- Whoever stands in need of honey should not be afraid of bees.
- Why take away something by force which you can obtain by love.
- Why they like an ugly person it takes long for a beautiful person to know
it.
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