AFRICAN
PROVERBS
A man, who chases two rats, kills no
one.-
A man whose house is on fire does not go
chasing rats.
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A river, which fills up in a man’s presence,
cannot carry him away.
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When brothers fight to the death, a
stranger inherits their father’s property.
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One does not test the depth of a river
with both feet.
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Anger and madness are brothers.
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A child’s name pretends his future.
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A timid man cannot inherit his father’s
title.
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Singing birds does not build nests.
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A man, who throws stones in the
marketplace, hit someone from his own house.
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A man does not go to sleep with a
burning lamp on his roof.
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Twenty children cannot play together for
twenty years.
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A man, who has no remedy for stomach ache,
should not eat cockroaches.
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A wearing child that does not cry will
die on its mother’s back.
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A lie may travel for twenty years, but
one day, truth will eventually catch up with it.
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A sheep, which walks with dogs, will eat
faeces; a dog, which walks with sheep, will eat yam peelings.
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If vines unite; they will tie up an
elephant.
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That, which makes a farmer cry, is a
source of amusement for the partridge.
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The customs of one land are taboo in
another.
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A man, who wishes to grow tall, will
have thin legs.
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Short or bald, a man without debt is a
man without shame; it is debt, which exposes a man to shame.
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It is not only rain, which drives a man
to seek shelter.
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Once the mouth has eaten, the eyes grow
dim
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A man’s character is like smoke. It
cannot be hidden.
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A man who pursues an innocent chicken,
always stumble.
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A river, which forgets its source, runs
dry.
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The hand that gives is always on top.
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The tree, which does not know how to dance,
will be taught by the wind.
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One does not count the fingers of a
nine-fingered man in his presence.
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A man should not sniff what he does not
intend to eat.
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When a mother and her child are burnt by
fire, the mother brushes the flames from her body first.
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Hearing and refusing to heed ruins a
child. Seeing and refusing to speak ruins an old man.
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A child may have as many clothes as an
old man, but he can never have as many rags.
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A fool, if not restrained, will throw
stones at a leopard.
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The fly which sticks close to the hunter
will drink it’s fill of blood.
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