– African Proverbs –
Learn African wisdom with Golden Proverbs!
The one who fetches the water is the one who is likely to break the pot.
Ga (Ghana) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
Swallow saliva before you cross a one-log bridge.
Ngoni (Tanzania, Mozambique) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
How easy it is to defeat people who do not kindle fire for themselves.
Tugen (Kenya) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
The dog does not worry when the chicken runs over to the bones.
Ewe-mina (Benin, Ghana, and Togo) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
The camel does not see the bend in its neck.
Arabic (Libya) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
The one who eats has tasted the hardship of labor.
Tembo (Democratic Republic of Congo)
~ African Proverbs
The person who has a light knee can survive longer.
Toposa (Sudan)
~ African Proverbs
The person who has eaten and satisfied himself or herself does not care for the one who is hungry.
Matengo (Tanzania) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
Until the lion has his or her own storyteller, the hunter will always have the best part of the story.
Ewe-mina (Benin, Ghana, and Togo)
~ African Proverbs
An eye that you treat is the one that turns against you.
Luo (Kenya, Tanzania)
~ African Proverbs
If you refuse the elders advice you will walk the whole day.
Ngoreme (Tanzania), Kuria (Kenya, Tanzania)
~ African Proverbs
Go in that direction” does not mean that you go. To go means, “let’s go together!
Sena (Mozambique) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
What is in the stomach carries what is in the head.
Bukusu (Kenya) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
A fish is in water but does not know the importance of water.
Ewe (Ghana, Benin, Nigeria and Togo) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
A child or youth who d
oes not listen to an elder’s advice gets his or her leg broken.
Nyanja (Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia) and Chewa (Malawi) and Bemba (Zambia) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
The (word) of a friend makes you cry; the (word) of an enemy makes you laugh.
Tuareg (Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger)
~ African Proverbs
The pants of today are better than the breeches of tomorrow.
Moore (Burkina Faso)
~ African Proverbs
A chicken that keeps scratching the dung-hill will soon find the mother’s thigh bones.
Ewe (Ghana, Benin, Nigeria and Togo) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
When God cooks, you don’t see smoke.
Kaonde (Zambia) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
Like ants, eat little and carry the rest back to your home.
Bembe (Democratic Republic of the Congo – DRC, Tanzania) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
It [a bug] grows up in dry wood, and yet it comes to maturity.
Gikuyu (Kenya) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
Only a wise person can solve a difficult problem.
Akan (Ghana) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
A tree is known by its fruit.
Zulu (South Africa, Swaziland) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
A deaf ear is followed by death and an ear that listens is followed by blessings.
Samburu (Kenya) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
I pointed out to you the stars (the moon) and all you saw was the tip of my finger.
Sukuma (Tanzania)
~ African Proverbs
The water pot presses upon the small circular pad.
Acholi (Uganda) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
If you do not listen to good advice, you will be embarrassed in public.
Oshiwambo (Namibia)
~ African Proverbs
Drive peace my colleagues.
Sheng (Kenya) Sayings
~ African Proverbs
Unity is strength.
Ganda (Uganda) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
The thorn in your foot is temporarily appeased, but it is still in.
Longo (Tanzania) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
Suffering is prior to attaining success or perfection.
Chagga (Tanzania) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
The eyes of the trapper are as subject to reddening as those of the small animal (that he pursues).
Ganda (Uganda)
~ African Proverbs
Slowly, slowly, porridge goes into the gourd.
Kuria (Kenya, Tanzania)
~ African Proverbs
The chief’s son has to collect firewood when destiny destroys him.
Moru (Sudan) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
The lead cow (the one in front) gets whipped the most.
Zulu (South Africa, Swaziland) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
If God breaks your leg, He will teach you how to limp.
Dagbani (Ghana)
~ African Proverbs
When a tree falls on a yam farm and kills the farm’s owner, you don’t waste time counting the numbers of yam hips ruined.
Igala (Nigeria)
~ African Proverbs
A cockroach knows how to sing and dance, but it is the hen who prevents it from performing its art during the day.
Edo (Nigeria)
~ African Proverbs
The eyes of the wise person see through you.
Haya (Tanzania) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
Walk on a fresh tree, the dry one will break.
Bena (Tanzania)
~ African Proverbs
A warthog eating its fill does not delight a pig.
Sena (Mozambique)
~ African Proverbs
The one who milks the cow is not the same person as the one who removes (plucks out) ticks from a cow.
Gikuyu (Kenya) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
Love is blind.
Mende (Sierra Leone) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
A debt is not a loss once one knows the debtor.
Tembo (Democratic Republic of Congo)
~ African Proverbs
Where there’s a will there’s a way.
Swahili (Eastern and Central Africa) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
A tree is known by its fruit.
Zulu (South Africa, Swaziland) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
It’s better to give than to receive.
Malagasy (Madagascar)
~ African Proverbs
A person who is not disciplined cannot be cautioned.
Haya (Tanzania) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
A stone from home is worth ten from the riverbed.
Southern Tashelhayt Berber (Algeria, Morocco)
~ African Proverbs
The hyena with a cub does not eat up (consume) all the available food.
Akamba (Kenya)
~ African Proverbs
The groin pains in sympathy with the sore.
Zulu (South Africa, Swaziland) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
A stick is straightened while still young.
Kiga, Ankole (Uganda) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
A tree is known by its fruit.
Zulu (South Africa, Swaziland) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
Great fires erupt from tiny sparks.
Arabic (Libya) Proverb
~ African Proverbs
