30 African Proverbs From Various African Cultures

Proverbs are an integral part of African culture. Simple statements with deep meaning, they are guidelines for individual, family, and village behavior, built upon repeated real life experiences and observations over time. Proverbs are mirrors through which people look at themselves—a stage for expressing themselves to others. The way people think and look at the world, their culture, values, behaviors, aspirations, and preoccupations can immediately be understood by looking at their proverbs. (CHIKU MALUNGA & CHARLES BANDA)

Here are thirty resourceful African Proverbs to read and engage with our daily lifes

1. By trying often, the monkey learns to jump from the tree. ~ Buganda Proverb
2. Hurry, hurry has no blessings. ~ Swahili Proverb
3. However long the night, the dawn will break.~ African Proverb
4. A patient man will eat ripe fruit. ~ African Proverb
5. A woman’s polite devotion is her greatest beauty. ~African Proverb
6. Milk and honey have different colors, but they share the same house peacefully. ~ African Proverb
7. A beautiful thing is never perfect. ~Egyptian Proverb
8. You are beautiful, but learn to work, for you cannot eat your beauty. ~Congolese Proverb
9. However little food we have, we’ll share it even if it’s only one locust. ~Malagasy Proverb
10. Eat when the food is ready; speak when the time is right. ~Ethiopian Proverb
11. One spoon of soup in need has more value than a pot of soup when we have an abundance of food. ~Angolan Proverb
12. Good words are food, bad words poison. ~Malagasy Proverb
13. Make some money but don’t let money make you. ~ Tanzanian Proverb
14. To be without a friend is to be poor indeed. ~ Tanzanian Proverb
15. Between true friends even water drunk together is sweet enough. ~ African Proverb
16. Knowledge is better than riches. ~ Cameroon Proverb
17. God gives nothing to those who keep their arms crossed. ~African Proverb
18. What you give you get, ten times over. ~ Yoruba Proverb
19. Patience is the mother of a beautiful child. ~ Bantu Proverb
20. The fool speaks, the wise man listens. ~ Ethiopian Proverb
21. Do not let what you cannot do tear from your hands what you can. ~ Ashanti Proverb
22. The old woman looks after the child to grow its teeth. The young one looks after the old woman when she loses her teeth. ~ Akan Proverb
23. Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable. ~ Bondei Proverb
24. A family tie is like a tree; it can bend but it cannot break. ~ African Proverb
25. One person cannot move a mountain. – African Proverb
26. If you eat all your harvest, you won’t have seed for tomorrow. ~ African Proverb
27. Prosperity is freedom; poverty is slavery ~ African Proverb
28. Knowledge is light, ignorance is darkness. ~ African Proverb
29. Rules are stronger than an individual’s power. ~ African Proverb
30. When cobwebs unite, they can tie up a lion. ~ African Proverb

Reference:

C. MALUNGA & C. BANDA (2004), Understanding Organizational Sustainability through African Proverbs: Insights for Leaders and Facilitators, Pact Publications

sammyhawkrad

Samuel Darkwah Manu is young man from Ghana currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (KNUST), Ghana. Samuel is passionate about blogging and is a social media enthusiast (popularly known as “sammyhawkrad”). Hobbies include listening to music (country, soul, RnB), playing FIFA and PES games, watching football and interacting on twitter.