World Wide Wisdom
THE FOLLOWING SAYINGS AND PROVERBS HAVE BEEN GATHERED FROM AFRICA AND FROM OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD. THEY SPRING FROM THE WISDOM OF MANKIND THROUGHOUT THE AGES.
* Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
* Proverbs are the daughters of experience.
* Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. – Chief Seattle
* If you would thoroughly know anything, teach it to others. – Tryon Edwards
* Never, never, never, never give in. – Winston Churchill
* Why was man created on the last day? So that he can be told when pride takes hold of him: God created the gnat before thee.
* YORUBA OF NIGERIA
A proverb is the horse of conversation: when the conversation lags, a proverb will revive it.
* TAKE TIME…
Take time to WORK, it is the Price of Success
* TAKE TIME…
Take time to THINK, it is the Source of Power
* TAKE TIME…
Take time to PLAY, it is the Secret of Perpetual Youth
* TAKE TIME…
Take time to READ, it is the Fountain of Wisdom
* TAKE TIME…
Take time to WORSHIP, it is the Highway to Reverance
* TAKE TIME…
Take time to be FRIENDLY, it is the Road to Happiness
* TAKE TIME…
Take time to LAUGH, it is the Music of the Soul
* TAKE TIME…
Take time to DREAM, it is Hitching your Wagon to a Star
* TAKE TIME…
Take time to Live
* CHILDREN
It takes a whole village to raise a child
* YORUBA OF NIGERIA
A wise man who knows proverbs, reconciles difficulties.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
Rain beats a leopard’s skin, but it does not wash out the spots.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
Wood already touched by fire is not hard to set alight.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
Only when you have crossed the river, can you say the crocodile has a lump on his snout.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
If you are in hiding, don’t light a fire.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
One falsehood spoils a thousand truths.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
When a man is wealthy, he may wear an old cloth.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
Do not call the forest that shelters you a jungle.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
Hunger is felt by a slave and hunger is felt by a king.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
The moon moves slowly, but it crosses the town.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
When the cock is drunk, he forgets about the hawk.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
There is no medicine to cure hatred.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
It’s a bad child who does not take advice.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
When a man is coming toward you, you need not say: “Come here.”
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
Even though the old man is strong and hearty, he will not live forever.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
When a king has good counselors, his reign is peaceful.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
By the time the fool has learned the game, the players have dispersed.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
The poor man and the rich man do not play together.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
It is the calm and silent water that drowns a man.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
When you follow in the path of your father, you learn to walk like him.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
When a woman is hungry, she says, “Roast something for the children that they might eat.”
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
What is bad luck for one man is good luck for another.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
When the fool is told a proverb, its meaning has to be explained
to him.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
One cannot both feast and become rich.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
It is no shame at all to work for money.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
Money is sharper than a sword.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
It is the fool’s sheep that break loose twice.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
When you are rich, you are hated; when you are poor, you are despised.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
It is Mr. Old-Man-Monkey who marries Mrs. Old-Woman-Monkey.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
Fire and gunpowder do not sleep together.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
No one tests the depth of a river with both feet.
* ASHANTI OF GHANA
Two small antelopes can beat a big one.
* BAGUIRMI
Do not try to cook the goat’s young in the goat’s milk.
* BAGUIRMI
The humble pay for the mistakes of their betters.
* BAGUIRMI
You are beautiful because of your possessions.
* BAGUIRMI
A man with too much ambition cannot sleep in peace.
* BASUTOLAND
It is best to bind up the finger before it is cut.
* BASUTOLAND
If the palm of the hand itches, it signifies the coming of great luck.
* BASUTOLAND
Sickness accompanies a waning moon; a new moon cures disease.
* BUGANDA
When the moon is not full, the stars shine more brightly.
* BUGANDA
He who hunts two rats, catches none.
* BUGANDA
If you burn a house, can you conceal the smoke?
* BUGANDA
A strawberry blossom will not sweeten dry bread.
* BUGANDA
When the master is absent, the frogs hop into the house.
* BUGANDA
He who is bitten by a snake fears a lizard.
* CAMEROON
If you do not step on the dog’s tail, he will not bite you.
* CAMEROON
When the vine entwines your roof, it is time to cut it down.
* CAMEROON
He who asks questions, cannot avoid the answers.
* CAMEROON
The flood takes him in, and the ebb takes him out.
* CAMEROON
She is like a road – pretty but crooked.
* CAMEROON
By trying often, the monkey learns to jump from the tree.
* CAMEROON
The heart of the wise man lies quiet like limpid water.
* CAMEROON
The cricket cries, the year changes.
* CAMEROON
Thought breaks the heart.
* CAMEROON
Knowledge is better than riches.
* CAMEROON
Rain does not fall on one roof alone.
* CAMEROON
An elephant will reach to the roof of the house.
* CAMEROON
A man’s wealth may be superior to him.
* CONGO
Lower your head modestly while passing, and you will harvest bananas.
* CONGO
What is said over the dead lion’s body, could not be said to him alive.
* CONGO
Children are the reward of life.
* CONGO
Being well dressed does not prevent one from being poor.
* CONGO
Little by little grow the bananas.
* CONGO
A pretty basket does not prevent worries.
* CONGO
No matter how full the river, it still wants to grow.
* CONGO
Do not dispose of the monkey’s tail before he is dead.
* CONGO
Love is like a baby: it needs to be treated tenderly.
* CONGO
The teeth are smiling, but is the heart?
* CONGO
Great events may stem from words of no importance.
* CONGO
You do not teach the paths of the forest to an old gorilla.
* CONGO
A little subtleness is better than a lot of force.
* CONGO
Two birds disputed about a kernel, when a third swooped down and carried it off.
* CONGO
The son shoots a leopard; the father is proud.
* CONGO
Man is like palm-wine: when young, sweet but without strength; in old age, strong but harsh.
* CONGO
Mothers-in-law are hard of hearing.
* CONGO
If you tell people to live together, you tell them to quarrel.
* CONGO
The friends of our friends are our friends.
* CONGO
Wood may remain ten years in the water, but it will never become a crocodile.
* CONGO
Death does not sound a trumpet.
* CONGO
Let him speak who has seen with his eyes.
* CONGO
When the bee comes to your house, let her have beer; you may want to visit the bee’s house some day.
* CONGO
No matter how long the night, the day is sure to come.
* CONGO
He who is free of faults, will never die.
* CONGO
A single bracelet does not jingle.
* CONGO
To love someone who does not love you, is like shaking a tree to make the dew drops fall.
* CONGO
Sleep is the cousin of death.
* CONGO
The flesh of a young animal tastes flat.
* CONGO
Those who are absent are always wrong.
* ETHIOPIA
To one who does not know , a small garden is a forest.
* ETHIOPIA
When one is in love, a cliff becomes a meadow.
* ETHIOPIA
A fool looks for dung where the cow never browsed.
* ETHIOPIA
The cattle is as good as the pasture in which it grazes.
* ETHIOPIA
Evil enters like a needle and spreads like a oak tree.
* ETHIOPIA
A close friend can become a close enemy.
* ETHIOPIA
What is inflated too much, will burst into fragments.
* ETHIOPIA
Restless feet may walk into a snake pit.
* ETHIOPIA
A coward sweats in water.
* ETHIOPIA
Snake at your feet – a stick at your hand!
* ETHIOPIA
The witness of a rat is another rat.
* ETHIOPIA
He who learns, teaches.
* ETHIOPIA
A fool will pair an ox with an elephant!
* ETHIOPIA
One who runs alone cannot be outrun by another.
* ETHIOPIA
Cactus is bitter only to him who tastes of it.
* ETHIOPIA
The frog wanted to be as big as the elephant, and burst.
* ETHIOPIA
One who recovers from sickness, forgets about God.
* ETHIOPIA
Termites live underground.
* ETHIOPIA
Woman without man is like a field without seed.
* ETHIOPIA
If a friend hurts you, run to your wife.
* ETHIOPIA
If the heart is sad, tears will flow.
* ETHIOPIA
Unless you call out, who will open the door?
* ETHIOPIA
Her horns are not too heavy for the cow.
* ETHIOPIA
There is no one who became rich because he broke a holiday, and no one who became fat because he broke a fast.
* ETHIOPIA
When the heart overflows, it comes out through the mouth.
* ETHIOPIA
You cannot build a house for last year’s summer.
* ETHIOPIA
A partner in the business will not put an obstacle to it.
* ETHIOPIA
When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.
* ETHIOPIA
He who digs too deep for a fish, may come out with a snake.
* ETHIOPIA
Confiding a secret to an unworthy person is like carrying grain in a bag with a hole.
* ETHIOPIA
A loose tooth will not rest until it’s pulled out.
* ETHIOPIA
The dog I bought, bit me; the fire I kindled, burned me.
* ETHIOPIA
A blade won’t cut another blade; a cheat won’t cheat another cheat.
* ETHIOPIA
If one is not in a hurry, even an egg will start walking.
* ETHIOPIA
If relatives help each other, what evil can hurt them?
* ETHIOPIA
A home without a woman is like a barn without cattle.
* ETHIOPIA
Sitting is being crippled.
* ETHIOPIA
The fool speaks, the wise man listens.
* ETHIOPIA
A cat may go to a monastery, but she still remains a cat.
* ETHIOPIA
I have a cow in the sky, but cannot drink her milk.
* ETHIOPIA
Dine with a stranger, but save you love for your family.
* ETHIOPIA
A too modest man goes hungry.
* ETHIOPIA
If you offend, ask for pardon; if offended, forgive.
* ETHIOPIA
He who conceals his disease cannot expect to be cured.
* ETHIOPIA
A fool and water will go the way they are diverted
* ETHIOPIA
Where there is no shame, there is no honor.
* ETHIOPIA
A silly daughter teaches her mother how to bear children.
* ETHIOPIA
Advise and counsel him; if he does not listen, let adversity teach him.
* ETHIOPIA
Anticipate the good so that you may enjoy it.
* ETHIOPIA
Clothes put on while running come off while running.
* ETHIOPIA
A cow gave birth to a fire: she wanted to lick it, but it burned; she wanted to leave it, but she could not because it was her own child.
* ETHIOPIA
One scoops with a scoop.
* ETHIOPIA
Living is worthless for one without a home.
* ETHIOPIA
When one sets a portion for oneself, usually it is not too small.
* ETHIOPIA
She who does not yet know how to walk, cannot climb a ladder.
* ETHIOPIA
He who wants to barter, usually knows what is best for himself.
* ETHIOPIA
When a fool is cursed, he thinks he is being praised
* ETHIOPIA
It is easy to become a monk in one’s old age.
* ETHIOPIA
Singing “Alleluia” everywhere does not prove piety.
* ETHIOPIA
Saying that it’s for her child, she gets herself a loaf of bread.
* ETHIOPIA
What has been blown away, cannot be found again.
* ETHIOPIA
The fool is thirsty in the midst of water.
* ETHIOPIA
Even over cold pudding, the coward says: “It will burn my mouth.”
* ETHIOPIA
What one hopes for is always better than what one has.
* ETHIOPIA
A single stick may smoke, but it will not burn.
* ETHIOPIA
As the wound inflames the finger, so thought inflames the mind.
* ETHIOPIA
He who lives with an ass, makes noises like an ass.
* ETHIOPIA
If a man comes, a quarrel comes.
* ETHIOPIA
Move your neck according to the music.
* ETHIOPIA
One is born, one dies; the land increases.
* GHANA
If there were no elephant in the jungle, the buffalo would be a great animal.
* GHANA
A crab does not beget a bird.
* GHANA
If you find no fish, you have to eat bread.
* GHANA
One camel does not make fun of the other camel’s hump.
* GUINEA
The man on his feet carries off the share of the man sitting down.
* GUINEA
Around a flowering tree, one finds many insects.
* GUINEA
To make preparations does not spoil the trip.
* GUINEA
He who has done evil, expects evil.
* GUINEA
A good deed is something one returns.
* GUINEA
He who does not cultivate his field, will die of hunger.
* GUINEA
A cow that has no tail should not try to chase away flies.
* GUINEA
The toad likes water, but not when it’s boiling.
* GUINEA
Knowledge is like a garden: it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.
* GUINEA
No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow.
* GUINEA
When a needle falls into a deep well, many people will look into the well, but few will be ready to go down after it.
* GUINEA
To have two eyes is cause for pride; but to have one eye is better than to have none.
* GUINEA
Save your fowl before it stops flapping.
* IVORY COAST
Too much discussion means a quarrel.
* IVORY COAST
Mutual affection gives each other his share.
* IVORY COAST
It takes two to make a quarrel.
* IVORY COAST
Two flavors confuse the palate.
* IVORY COAST
He who talks incessantly, talks nonsense.
* IVORY COAST
A bad son gives a bad name to his mother.
* KENYA
After a foolish deed comes remorse.
* KENYA
He who receives a gift does not measure.
* KENYA
He who does not know one thing knows another.
* KENYA
Do not say the first thing that comes to your mind.
* KENYA
A white dog does not bite another white dog.
* KENYA
Try this bracelet: if it fits you wear it; but if it hurts you, throw it away no matter how shiny.
* KENYA
He who is unable to dance says that the yard is stony.
* KENYA
Because a man has injured your goat, do not go out and kill his bull.
* KENYA
Talking with one another is loving one another.
* KENYA
Absence makes the heart forget.
* KENYA
Virtue is better than wealth.
* KENYA
Hearts do not meet like roads.
* KENYA
Seeing is different than being told.
* KENYA
Home affairs are not talked about on the public square.
* KENYA
Good millet is known at the harvest.
* LIBERIA
A little rain each day will fill the rivers to overflowing.
* MADAGASCAR
Indecision is like the stepchild: if he doesn’t wash his hands, he is called dirty; if he does, he is wasting the water.
* MADAGASCAR
Don’t be so much in love that you can’t tell when the rain comes.
* MADAGASCAR
Love is like young rice: transplanted, still it grows.
* MADAGASCAR
The dog’s bark is not might, but fright.
* MADAGASCAR
Marriage is not a fast knot, but a slip knot.
* MADAGASCAR
If you try to cleanse others, like soap, you will waste away in the process.
* MAURITANIA
A cutting word is worse than a bowstring; a cut may heal, but the cut of the tongue does not.
* NIGER
He who marries a beauty marries trouble.
* NIGERIA
A wealthy man will always have followers.
* NIGERIA
Some birds avoid the water, ducks seek it.
* NIGER
He who boasts much can do little.
* NIGERIA
The house roof fights the rain, but he who is sheltered ignores it.
* NIGERIA
Fine words do not produce food.
* NIGERIA
What the child says, he has heard at home.
* NIGERIA
Not to know is bad; not to wish to know is worse.
* NIGERIA
When one is in trouble, one remembers God.
* NIGERIA
Time destroys all things.
* NIGERIA
Earth is the queen of beds.
* NAMIBIA
If your mouth turns into a knife, it will cut off your lips.
* RWANDA
In a court of fowls, the cockroach never wins his case.
* SENEGAL
He may say that he loves you, wait and see what he does for you.
* SENEGAL
The truth is like gold: keep it locked up and you will find it exactly as you first put it away.
* SENEGAL
An intelligent enemy is better than a stupid friend.
* SENEGAL
It is better to be loved than feared.
* SIERRA LEONE
A big fish is caught with big bait.
* SIERRA LEONE
A cow must graze where she is tied.
* SIERRA LEONE
Do not tell the man who is carrying you that he stinks.
* SIERRA LEONE
To try and fail is not laziness.
* SOMALIA
Poverty is slavery.
* SOMALIA
Wisdom does not come overnight.
* SOMALIA
Where I make my living, there is my home.
* SOMALIA
To be without a friend is to be poor indeed.
* TANZANIA
A roaring lion kills no game.
* TANZANIA
In all the world, things are two and two.
* UGANDA
With wealth one wins a woman.
* ZULULAND
A horse has four legs, yet it often falls.
* ZULULAND
Copying everybody else all the time, the monkey one day cut his throat.
* ZULULAND
Even an ant may harm an elephant.
* ZULULAND
The rich are always complaining.
* ZULULAND
The most beautiful fig may contain a worm.
* ZULULAND
The horse who arrives early gets good drinking water.
* ZULULAND
Do not call to a dog with a whip in your hand.
* SUDAN
A termite can do nothing to a stone save lick it.
* SIERRA LEONE
The elephant’s head is no load for a child.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
* Education is an ornament in prosperity, and a refuge in adversity.
Aristotle
* From contemplation on may become wise, but knowledge comes only from study. – A. Edward Newton
* It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to
use it well.
– Descartes
* Many complain of their looks, but none of their brains. –
Yiddish Proverb
* A good mind possesses a kingdom. – Seneca
* The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
– Aristotle
* Ye can lade a man up to the university, but you can’t make him think.
* No profit grows where is no pleasure ta’en: In brief, sir, study what you most affect. – William Shakespeare
* There are no national frontiers to learning. – Japanese proverb
* Knowledge advances by steps, and not by leaps. – Lord
Macaulay
* I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words bother me.
– Winnie the Pooh
* Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much, wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
* When a man’s education is finished, he is finished.
* Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.
* What is education but a process by which a person begins to learn how to learn.
* Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket: and do not merely pull it out and strike it; merely to show that you have one.
* Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.
* Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.
* The longer the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder.
* It is the province of knowledge to speak, and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.
* Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.
* What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the
soul.
* Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.
* Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.
* For all knowledge and wonder (which is the seed of knowledge) is an impression of pleasure in itself.
* Knowledge dwells in heads replete with the thoughts of other men; Wisdom in minds attentive to their own.
* Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give lustre, and many more people see than weigh.
* Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.
* Skill comes so slow, and life so fast doth fly, we learn so little and forget so much.
* When house and land are gone, then learning is most excellent.
* Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.
* Knowledge and timber shouldn’t be so much used till they are overseasoned.
* Now, owls are not really wise – they only look that way. The owl is a sort of college professor.
* There is not frigate like a book, to take us lands away.
* It is better to ask some of the questions than to know all
the answers.
* Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.
* We prize books, and they proze them most who are themselves
wise.
* Wear the old coat and buy the new book.
* Our knowledge is the amassed thought and experience of innumerable minds: our language, our science, our religion, our opinions, our fancies we inherited.
* Whoso neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future.
* It is like what we imagine knowledge to be: dark, salt, clear, moving, utterly free, drawn from the cold, hard mouth of the world.
* …be intolerant of ignorance, but understanding of illiteracy.
* The educator must above all understand how to wait; to reckon all effects in the light of the future, not of the present.
* Experience is a good teacher, but she sends terrific bills.
* I was taught that the way of progress is neither swift nor
easy.
* Those frightful things you see when you take your mind off your goal are called obstacles.
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