Here is a list of the best African Proverbs – proverbs from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Sudan, Sudan, Mozambique, Namibia, Gambia, Malawi, Mali, etc.
Birds agree when flying down but they do not agree when flying up. #Kenya
You can’t save a feather once it falls onto the fire. #Kalenjin
A frog likes water but not when it is boiling. #Nigeria
A Millipede doesn’t win a case presided over by a Cock. #Uganda
A heart is like a tree, it takes root where it chooses. #Zimbabwe
When you follow the path of your father, you learn to walk like him. #South Sudan
No matter how tight a monkey’s trousers are, he has to leave space for his tail. #Sierra Leone
Talk to a person who can understand and cook for a person who can be satisfied. #Zambia
Don’t set sail using someone else’s star. #Sudan
A rat which has two holes lives long. #Ethiopia
A good conversation is better than a good bed. #Ethiopia
A beggar’s knees are supple. #Kenya
There are no shortcuts to the top of the palm tree. #AfricanProverbs
Because the fire has a pot as a shield, it wants to quarrel with the water. #Nigeria
A running nose does not prevent tears from the eye when crying.
When the monkey can’t reach the ripe banana with his hand, he says it is not sweet. #Uganda
Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand. #SouthSudan
Not every dog that barks can bite. #SouthSudan
The only grass a buffalo can boast about is that which is in its stomach as it may die with grass still in its mouth. #Zimbabwe
Wisdom is like a lost needle: a child could find it just as easily as an adult. #Gambia
A good conversation is better than a good bed. #Ethiopia
If you shut your mouth tightly so as not to speak the truth, your nose will speak it. #Ethiopia
Hot water does not burn a house. #Uganda
Because of its shyness, the tortoise died in the boat. #Uganda
Mother, carry me, and I will carry you. #Zambia
Talking doesn’t fill a basket in the farm. #Nigeria
A female dog can also catch an animal. #Kenya
Hunger in your brother’s house does not prevent you from sleeping. #Kenya
He who has not travelled has no understanding. #Somalia
Stealing a drum is easy, but finding a place to beat it is not. #Nigeria
The sun may be hot but that does not mean that the fowl will lay a boiled egg. #Nigeria
Lightning does not strike the same tree twice. #Kenya
When you wake up and see a chicken chasing you, run – for you do not know if it has grown teeth overnight. #Nigeria
One sees all sorts of knives on the day an Elephant dies. #Nigeria
You can wash the basket in the stream but you can’t carry water home with it. #Nigeria
If a poor person has nothing else, he has at least a sweet tongue with which to defer the payments of his debts. #Ghana
The falling of a yellow leaf is only a warning to the green one. #Uganda
A hungry man should never be left alone in the granary. #Kenya
A child that laughs at his father’s rotten yams is laughing at the hunger that will strike him in due course. #Nigeria
The village which is not discussed is not built. #Tanzania
The humility of a rabbit does not spare him from the hunter’s arrow. #Nigeria
Brew beer and you will hear what killed your mother. #Malawi
It is with a light basket that one escapes the rain. #Kenya
It is easy to be wise after the event. #South Sudan
It is only when a mosquito lands on your testicles that you realize there is a way of solving a problem without violence. #Zambia
When the fire consumes the forest, animals run towards the river. #Mali
If you break a coconut on a man’s head, he will not enjoy eating it. #Nigeria
The antelope says that if you stay at one spot in the forest for far too long, you will become thirsty. #Ghana
The death that kills one’s contemporary is a proverbial warning. #Nigeria
However full the house, the hen finds a corner to lay in. #Sierra Leone
He who eats last is king. #Zimbabwe
When you take a knife away from a child, give him a piece of wood to play with. #Nigeria
Those with tattered skirts should avoid dancing too close to the fire. #Zimbabwe
No matter how good you are to a goat it will still eat your yam. #Nigeria
In a caravan, it is the first camel who delays the rest; but the last one gets all the beatings. #Ethiopia
Once the millet has sprouted, it is not afraid of the weather. #Uganda
When you see a rat running into a fire then you know that what it is running away from is hotter than the fire. #South #Sudan
If you make friends with the boatman in the dry season, you will be the first to cross when the rains come and the tide is high. #Liberia
If you are bitten by a snake you fear seeing a rope at night. #Kenya
The hands that make mistakes belong to those who work. #South Africa
It is survival, not bravery that makes a man climb a thorny tree. #Uganda
Take good care of your neck; neck ornaments are not difficult to find. #Zambia
If a snake does not act like a snake, little children will use it to tie firewood. #Nigeria
The lizard had the tree in mind before challenging the dog to a fight. #Nigeria
One cannot stop sleeping because of a fear of bad dreams. #Ethiopia
Two rams cannot drink from the same bucket at the same time. #Nigeria
The eyes do not carry the load but they know what the head can carry. #Gambia
If you want to improve your memory, lend someone money. #Zambia
A person who sells eggs should not start a fight in the market. #Zambia
Even if the Cock does not crow, the Sun will rise. #Zimbabwe
If money were to be found up in the trees, most people would be married to monkeys. #Cameroon
Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors. #Malawi
Do not expect to be offered a chair when you are visiting a place where the chief sits on the floor. #South Africa.
The day the monkey is destined to die all the trees get slippery. #Kenya
Don’t be in a hurry to swallow when chewing is pleasant. #Malawi
Beware of the naked man who offers you clothes. #Nigeria
Do not beat a drum with an axe. #Ghana
Look for a black goat while it is still daytime. #Nigeria
If a tree does not know how to dance, the wind will teach it. #DRC
Don’t set out on a journey using someone else’s donkey. #Somalia
Ask for a camel when you expect to get a goat. #Sudan
The proverb is the horse of words. When the truth is missing we use a proverb to find it. #Nigeria
A little rain each day will fill the rivers to overflowing. #Liberia
He who is bitten by a snake fears a lizard. #Uganda
He who does not know one thing knows another. #Kenya
When the moon is not full, the stars shine more brightly. #Uganda
By the time the fool has learned the game, the players have dispersed. #Ghana
In the ocean, one does not need to sow water. #Somalia
Egg and metal should not be put in the same sack. #Ghana
If a man’s back breaks, he does not stitch it up himself. #Ghana
A healer does not heal himself. #Kenya
Where God boils his yam is exactly where the devil roasts his fish. #Ghana
Two cats can never be equal; one will always be bigger than the other. #Equatorial Guinea
If wisdom is measured by the size of the beard, then the goat is a philosopher king. #Sierra Leone
A short rope ties nothing. #Swaziland
The beauty of a woman becomes useless if there is no one to admire it. #Sierra Leone
The same sun that melts the wax, hardens the clay. #Niger
The antics of a market buffoon provide laughter, but nobody prays that his child becomes the market buffoon. #Nigeria
A dog knows its master, but not its master’s master. #Ethiopia
Milk and honey have different colours, but they share the same house peacefully. #Kenya
The radiance of the sun cannot make a blind man see. #Nigeria
The eye of a snake is big, but no one can put his finger on it. #Cameroon
Troubles are like chilli, they add flavour to living. #Kenya
Nothing in creation is greedier than the eye. #Nigeria
A wound given by a word is many times harder to cure than that which is given by the sword. #Ghana
No matter how sharp a knife is, it cannot cut itself. #Ghana
The buttocks are like a married couple; though there is constant friction between them, they will still go to the grave together. #Malawi
Monkeys become smart only when they are on trees
However hot the sun, it will never dry the sea. #Sierra Leone
No matter how sharp your teeth, you cannot bite water. #Liberia
No matter how poor a village, there is always one rich man. #Kenya
Wars are created by people too old to fight for those too young to die. #Gambia
Never marry a woman who has bigger feet than you. #Mozambique
An Elder does not break wind in public, but in a latrine. #South Africa
Those who inherit fortunes are frequently more of a problem than those who made them. #Congo
Death and justice affect all men equally. #Somalia
A happy man marries the girl he loves, but a happier man loves the girl he marries. #Kenya
It is a person suffering from cold who will first think of closing the door. #Tanzania
He who pursues a baby bird teaches it how to fly. #Nigeria
No matter how wise you are, you cannot trace footsteps in water. #Malawi
A man is called a drunkard when he misbehaves, not when he drinks. #Liberia
No matter how beautiful and well-crafted a coffin might look, it will not make anyone wish for death. #Nigeria
Life is your ability to breathe out, every time you breathe in. #Uganda
The heart does not wear rags. #Malawi
A spoonful of honey will catch more flies than a gallon of vinegar. #Sierra Leone
A child can play with her mother’s breasts, but not her father’s testicles. #Guinea
Anyone can be polite to a king, but it takes a gentle man to be polite to a beggar. #Nigeria
Happy is the man who goes hunting for rats and catches an elephant. #Cameroon
Many hens may be in love with one cock, but none will be jealous of the other. #Ghana
A lizard longs to sit down, but its tail does not let it. #Nigeria
