Western African Proverbs

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AfricanProverbs Posted: Tue, Mar 4 2008 21:51

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Here are some proverbs from Western Africa:

• The pillar of the world is hope.
• Words are sweet, but they never take the place of food.
• There is no medicine against old age.
• Hold a true friend with both hands.
• It takes a village to raise a child.
• Don't insult the crocodile until you cross the water.
• A big blanket encourages sleeping in the morning.
• Rats don't dance in the cat's doorway.
• A hippopotamus can be made invisible in dark water.
• Even the Niger river must flow around an island.
• If the rhythm of the drum beat changes, the dance steps must adapt.
• Rain beats a leopard's skin, but it does not wash out the spots
• When a man is wealthy, he may wear an old cloth
• Hunger is felt by a slave and hunger is felt by a king.
• It is a bad child who does not take advise.
• There is no medicine to cure hatred.
• When you follow in the path of your father you learn to walk like him.
• You don't need pain killers for another man's headache.
• It is the calm and silent water that drowns a man.
• What is bad luck for one man is good luck for another.
• He who cannot dance will say "The drum is bad."
• It is no shame at all to work for money.
• Even though the old man is strong and hearty, he will not live forever.
• Money is sharper than a sword.
• A man with too much ambition cannot sleep in peace.
• Thought breaks the heart.
• Knowledge is better than riches.
• He who asks questions, cannot avoid the answers.
• Rain does not fall on one roof alone.
• If you find no fish you have to eat bread.
• The world sees the mouth, God sees the stomach.
• The day a man tastes the sweetness of a woman, that day he also tastes the bitterness.
• A good deed is something one returns.
• Too much discussion means a quarrel.
• Mutual gifts cement friendship.
• The dying man is not saved by medicine.
• If you watch your pot, your food will not burn.
• He is a fool whose sheep ran away twice.
• When your neighbor's horse falls into a pit, you should not rejoice at it, for your own children may fall into it too.
• An old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb.
• A proud heart can survive a general failure because such a failure does not *** its pride.
• If a child washes his hands he can eat with kings.
• We should talk while we are still alive.
• You cannot take away someone's luck.
• A lie can destroy a thousand truths.
• He that forgives gains victory.
• A chattering bird builds no nest.
• The rain does not recognize anyone as a friend, it drenches all equally.