Africa is a continent known for its rich culture and the complexity of its beliefs. The multitude of tribes and languages has resulted in a number of fascinating sayings and proverbs. These have taught us much about the beliefs, values and wisdom that exists within the African borders. They also reveal that human beings are more alike than they are different. African sayings may have used metaphors that are more relevant to the rural, tribal way of life of their originators, but the principles are something with which almost anybody can identify.
These are just a few of the many sayings and proverbs that Africa has produced:
• When your mouth stumbles, it's worse than feet (Oji).
• To stay a long time in the water does not make you clean.
• It is better to be loved than feared.
• A village never lacks a beautiful young woman.
• However long the night, the dawn will break.
• Women give birth with other women.
• Blind belief is dangerous (Luyia, Western Kenya).
• A champion bull starts from birth (Luyia, Western Kenya).
• He who marries a real beauty is seeking trouble (Accra, Ghana).
• The young can't teach traditions to the old (Yoruba).
• There is no medicine against old age (Accra, Ghana).
• The good looks of a moron do not stay that way for long (Ethiopia).
• Hold a true friend with both hands (Kanuri, Nigeria).
• Rising early makes the road short (Wolof, Senegal).
• Individuals have different talents.
• The teeth of a man serve as a fence (Wolof, Senegal).
• We add wisdom to knowledge (Kalenjin, Kenya).
• Do not follow a person who is running away (Kalenjin, Kenya).
• Water cannot be forced uphill (Kalenjin, Kenya).
• We should talk while we are still alive (Kalenjin, Kenya).
• There is no bad patience (Swahili).
• Do not vacillate or you will be left in between doing something, having something and being nothing (Ethiopia).
• It is foolhardy to climb two trees at once just because one has two feet (Ethiopia)
• He flees from the roaring lion to the crouching lion (Sechuana).
• Do not tell the man carrying you that he stinks (Sierra Leone).
• You suffer from smoke produced by the firewood you fetched yourself (Luhya, Kenya).
• A man who dictates separates himself from others (Somalia).
• Instruction in youth is like engraving in stones (Berber, North Africa).
• A low-class man will just talk; deeds are the hallmark of a gentleman (Swahili).
• The haughty blind person picks a fight with his guide (Ethiopia)
• The rainmaker who doesn't know what he's doing will be found out by the lack of clouds (Luganda, Uganda).
• The one chased away with a club comes back, but the one chased away with reason does not (Kikuyu, Kenya).
• He who loves money must labour (Mauritania).
• Poverty is slavery (Somalia).
• Knowledge is better than riches (Cameroon).
• A man's wealth may be superior to him (Cameroon).
• The rich are always complaining (Zulu).
• Dogs do not actually prefer bones to meat, it is just that no one ever gives them meat (Akan).
• People know each other better on a journey
• Before you go out with a widow, you must first ask her what killed the husband.
• A wise man never knows all, only fools know everything
• Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.
References:
http://www.afriprov.org/
http://famous-proverbs.com/african.htm
http://www.great-quotes.com/quotes/author/African+Proverbs/
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