105 african proverbs and wise sayings

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African Proverbs and Wise Sayings for Different Occasions by V. C. Yakubu

105 African Proverbs and Wise Saying for Different Occasions

Victor Chendekemen Yakubu 1

A Word for the Wise:

Somet imes in human life, you need to blend your speech with proverbs, id ioms, quotes and wise sayings. In Afr ican culture[s], an elder is considered an elder when he speaks with proverbs. When an elder speaks without a proverb, it is like a child chasing the wind without result s. Proverbs co lour the speech and make the audience happy or thoughtful. The Bible uses numerous metaphors, proverbs and wise sayings to explain events and s ituat ions. Reading them o ffers conso lat ion in our present condit ions and hope for a bet ter tomorrow. And Jesus is the most likely person we can po int out who never spoke without using a proverb, a wise saying or a metaphor . E lder ly persons were mesmer ized by his abilit y to sprout out wit ty sayings o ffhand. One elder even cha llenged him and said, “You are not up to forty and you talk like t his?” He was full o f wisdom. Examples o f his sayings are many. He said at one t ime, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath”, or “Destroy this temple and in three days, I shall raise it up again” and at another t ime he said, “When am lifted up from the earth I shall draw all men to myself.” Of course, they were short of understanding. So Jesus left a compendium o f proverbs for all k inds o f people from agr icultur ists to zoologists. There is something about Him which can make our speeches very interest ing and co lourful.

1 Fr. Victor C. Yakubu i s pr iest of the Cathol ic Diocese of Zar ia , Niger ia . He can be r eached a t viccheny@ chendekemen .com. Th is compilat ion was made bet ween 1987 and 1994. But most l y in 1993/1994 when I assumed the posi t ion of Pres iden t of the Phi losoph ical Societ y of St . August ine’s Major Seminary Jos, Pla teau Sta te – Niger ia and con tr ibut ing edi tor of Gadfly magazine. Specia l thanks to Fr . Isa iah Och igbo for his suggest i ons on th is compila t ion especia l l y the arr angemen t and struct ure. Many thanks.

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You may be a preacher or person who makes speeches everyday to an aud ience; you need to blend those speeches with some wise sayings, a proverb or a metaphor. But remember, when your audience is short of understanding, yo u have to take over the explanat ion so that you do not leave them in the dark. Most important ly, know when to apply these proverbs to a part icular occasion. When it is a sorrowful mood, you do not need to use proverbs for wedding ceremony or when it is t ime for naming ceremony; your proverbs must not come from the bur ial ceremony genre. People who listen to speeches are quick to detect an empty app licat ion o f a proverb, when it does not match the occasion. Mastery of t he proverb gives you the added advantage o f using it when necessary like Jesus did. However, it does not mean that every speech or every sentence you make must carry a proverb. This would be a mis-applicat ion o f what these proverbs are all about . The Niger ian nat ionalist and po lit ic ian, Chief Obafemi Awolowo [1909 – 1987] once said, “Vio lence never set t les anything r ight : apart from injur ing your own soul, it injures the best cause. I t lingers on long after the object of hate has d isappeared from the scene to plague the lives o f those who have emplo yed it against t heir foes.” Other Niger ian nat ionalist s like Sir Ahmadu Bello , Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and a host of others, used interest ing sayings to st ress their po ints. Many Afr ican nat ionalists used wit t y saying to fight for the independence o f their states. Most popular and most recent of these is Nelson Mandela. He said, “Aft er climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.” From one obstacle to another , his people were led to the abo lit ion o f apartheid. But after it , what came next is t he issue o f surmount ing problems within the South Afr ican society and making it funct ional. So that saying is a very relevant saying when making a speech to a group of people willing to make change s in their societ ies. In pre-modern t imes Afr ican cultures have never had any writ ten compilat ion o f their sayings from Casablanca to J’Burg and from Algiers to Lusaka and fro m Timbuktu to Ouagadougou.

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These proverbs were handed over from parents to their children in oral forms in stories and fo lklores. Over t ime these sayings were reformulated for lack o f words and most of them lost their original st yle. However, with modern methods we can now boast of having a compilat ion which is handed over not only in oral form but also in wr it ten form which any int erested person can read. I have come to love wise sayings and proverbs not because I am an Afr ican, but largely because the human mind is itching to hear something new like catchy words, quotes or sayings from different cultures. My grandfather at 97 years will c lo se his eyes and speak in proverbs. Somet imes he speaks endlessly. My grandmother is worst. At 88 years, she loves to shout in proverbs and if you don’t understand them she gets angr ier in proverbs. I have come to love them for the ins ights they o ffer via proverbs and wise sayings from their wealth o f exper iences. As someone who must talk almost every day o f my life, I imbibe the use o f different categor ies of proverbs. At t imes, the audience is thr illed and at other t imes they are confused or just seem pathet ic. Somet imes my audience is t ransfixed for lack o f understanding may be because I never said the p rover b accordingly. But don’t be discouraged as I have never been. Above all, they have been inspirat ional and necessary when composing a talk or a speech to an audience. You too must do the same and you have your own compilat ion from your culture. This simp le co llect ion is meant to aid your speech whenever you make one. Do not be taken by surpr ise when called to address an audience. Always begin by mesmer iz ing them with an already meditated proverb and then build on that . The most important period to shoot one is e it her from the beginning, the middle of your speech or at the end. Always make it sound int erest ing, coherent and st raight forward. The best thing about proverbs is to say it without a break, or to break in t he middle o f it and sigh, then conclude the second half. You will t hr ill your audience and send them in complete jit ters fully mesmer ized. Most of the proverbs in t his co llect ion are rendit ions from Fr. Isaiah Ochigbo, a pr iest of the Catho lic Diocese o f Otukpo and former lecturer a t the St . August ine’s Major Seminary Jos Plateau State Niger ia.

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He was fond o f us ing many proverbs while preaching or teaching his students. This is dedicated to his loving memory. Listening to him either preaching or teaching was fun and many listeners loved the way he tailored his speeches ful l of idioms, proverbs and wise sayings. Unfortunately most of them are direct t ranslit erat ion from the Idoma language of which Fr. Ochigbo belonged. His most popular wise sayings are, [1] “You cannot comb your head while you are st ill in t he forest” and [2] “When a handshake reaches the elbow, then it is something else.” Each t ime he ment ioned these proverbs in his speeches, t he audience was always thrown in laughter. But the message was clear. Feel free to download these wise sayings and use them accordingly. In case you have comments, quest ions or suggest ions towards improving this compilat ion, do feel free to send me your observat ions for future improvements. Send all observat ions to: [email protected]. They are put into groups containing ten proverbs or wise sayings. Read them carefully over and over to get the sense and how to apply t hem at your next occasion. This compilat ion owes it s or igin to this humble man o f God Fr. Ochigbo, read them while praying for him as or iginator. I am just happy to make the m available to you “for where the old t ree dies there the young one will sprout .” Victor Chendekemen Yakubu Catho lic Diocese of Zar ia NIGERIA [email protected]

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105 African Proverbs for Your Delight

Group I

1. Water tastes bet ter from a gourd. 2. He who wants papyrus ash, should burn one. 3. The eyes o f a frog cannot prevent the zebra from dr inking water in t he

r iver. 4. The gir ls who cannot dance blame the drums. 5. He who gossips is like a granary full of holes. 6. The foo lish bird builds a nest in a dead t ree and does not know it will be

cut down. 7. Young sugar cane gives no beer. 8. Even an ant can hurt an elephant . 9. The family members are those who know what happens in the family. 10.Where a st range t ree grows another will follow.

Group II

11.Cows graze best where they are brought up. 12.Unless you call out , no one will answer. 13.One camel does not make fun o f another camel’s back. 14.One does not send a child to collect honey. 15.A be ll needs its tongue. 16.A wise man washes his pot in preparat ion for tomorrow’s meal. 17.A dishonest man or liar sweats even in co ld waters. 18.An e lder who eats all his food without leaving any remnants for others

will carry his load to the town. 19.A child does not fly only a wing. 20.The fact that you quarrel with an opponent should not mean that you want

the opponent to die.

Group III

21.Never ask a landlord for a chair when he has only a mat on which he sits. 22.Does the mere sight of a butcher make the soup taste delic ious? 23.I f water is rotten with what shall you wash it ? 24.The ear is never greater than the head. 25.No mat ter how long the neck is, the head is always on its top. 26.With pat ience, even a hot plate of soup can be licked. 27.The fr iend o f a thief should be ready to hear uncomplimentary comments. 28.The nat ive doctor knows that he can do nothing without God. 29.One who chases a fowl that does not belong to him is bound to tumble. 30.Frogs and toads like water but not when it is hot .

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Group IV

31.He who eats onions cannot stop his mouth from smelling. 32.You don’t welcome a person from a journey, unt il he comes back. 33.A debtor does not make no ise with co ins. 34.I f you are not a lover o f people, none shall fo llow you. 35.An egg in t he mouth is bet ter than a chicken in the poult ry. 36.No mat ter the number o f pr ivileges given to a slave, he is not greater than

the heir. 37.Water does not ferment on its own. 38.The hawk flies high in the air but it s grave is r ight down on the earth. 39.Only a donkey shows pat ience under an oppressive load. 40.An okra plant is not ta ller than the farmer who planted it .

Group V

41.An okra bud is never higher than the main plant . 42.He who talks too much somet imes tells lies. 43.Don’t throw away the water in your container, just because you see signs

of a possible rain. 44.The lips have to come together before they can whist le. 45.The thumb is t he shortest finger but it is very important . 46.Search for the black sheep before it is dark. 47.Today teaches tomorrow a lesson. 48.No one sends a goat with a hyena to his in - laws. 49.A small lo in cloth around the waist is bet ter than nakedness. 50.I f you are digging a pit for an enemy do not dig too deep, because you

may fall in it yourself.

Group VI

51.After the snake has escaped there is no need to beat ing it s ta il. 52.A short man hangs his bag where his hands can reach. 53.The mouth somet imes cuts the throat. 54.I f you don’t wish to eat saliva, then don’t eat with a baby. 55.You cannot blow a fire to make it burn while your mouth is full o f water. 56.You cannot heal a wound while there is st ill a thorn ins ide it . 57.An author it y without wisdom is like an axe without an edge. 58.You cannot run over your shadow. 59.I f a person does not hear ‘stop it ’ at least he will hear ‘sorry’. 60.When you see your brother’s head burning, you should immediately get

water to wet yours.

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Group VII

61.You cannot see the back o f your head, only those wa lking behind you can. 62.Don’t ask a deaf man to beat the drums fo r you to dance. 63.A t ree does not grow without the roots. 64.I f your finger hurts, you do not give it to someone to lick it for you. 65.It is one man who digs the well for many people to drink. 66.When the fowl is weeping for not having teeth, the elephant is weeping

for not having the lips to cover it s own. 67.The r ight and the left wash each other. 68.He who spits in the sky spit s on his face. 69.When a finger is so iled with o il, o ther fingers may equally be so iled. 70.The nose and the eye are brothers.

Group VII

71.Ko la nuts last long in the mouth of the man who values it . 72.A finger cannot remove a louse. 73.Even a goat can bit e when condit ions become unbearable. 74.Only a stupid but terfly thinks it is a bird. 75.A big man’s dance is not difficu lt , no mat ter how he moves he is dancing. 76.It is easier to sell wine to the monkey than to get back your calabash. 77.The mouth must cont inue to chew with caut ion unt il t he rotten tooth is

removed. 78.It is a man with a broken nose that turns his mother’s funeral ceremonies

into a laughing mat ter. 79.I f a fish sleeps another will eat it . 80.A fish does not complain o f co ld or thirst .

Group IX

81.When the compound is on fire, even the woman can push away the roof of

the shr ine. 82.You don’t t ie eggs together with a rope. 83.It is only when there is a crack in the ho le that the lizard gets a hiding

place. 84.The cockroach is never innocent in a court president over by the chicken. 85.It is the fish t hat opens it s mouth that get caught up by the hook. 86.The fly that has nobody to advise it fo llows the corpse into t he grave. 87.You don’t cut off your t ights if your child excretes on them. 88.You don’t wash a chicken’s legs and then tell it that you are joking with

it . 89.It is not the natural child that normally digs the grave in which the parent

is bur ied. 90.Do not start a fir e you cannot quench.

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Group X

91.Water does not just develop a terrible odour unless something has died in

it . 92.The chameleon says it shall not change it s dignified way o f walking just

because the forest is on fire. 93.The snake has no hands and no legs, yet it can climb t rees. 94.It is senseless to t ry the cap on the knees when you have your head. 95.A lamp that decides to act like a wo lf should be ready for the hunter’s

arrows. 96.I f a handshake goes beyond the elbows, then it becomes suspic ious. 97.You should not kill the earthen worm for an offense commit ted by the

snake. 98.When the bush rat grows too o ld to cater for it self, it begins to feed from

the breasts of it s o ff-spr ings for surviva l. 99.Every person pulls a rope towards himself. 100. A man does not know the importance o f his but tocks unt il a bo il

develops on them.

Group XI

101. Two rams do not drink from the same water ho le at the same t ime, but well-bred human beings can.

102 The cry o f a goat does not prevent it from being taken to the market .

103 Do not comb your head while you are st ill in the forest . 104 The o ld women said to the pot , “Be careful wit h me because you are

meet ing me for the second t ime.” 105 The rabbit is angry not with the person that caught it but the person

that chased it from it s hiding place.

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105 african proverbs and wise sayings

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