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The Proverbs, Wits and Wisdom Of Ancestral Africa

Anger_
    Anger does nobody good, but patience is the father of kindness.

_Assistance_
    Not to aid one in distress is to kill him in your heart.

_Birth_
    Birth does not differ from birth; as the free man was born so was
    the slave.
    In the beginning our Lord created all. With him there is neither
    slave nor free man, but every one is free.

_Boasting_
    Boasting is not courage. He who boasts much cannot do much. Much
    gesticulation does not prove courage.

_Borrowing_
    Borrowing is easy but the day of payment is hard.

_Chance_
    He who waits for chance may wait for a year.

_Character_
    Wherever a man goes to dwell his character goes with him. Every
    man’s character is good in his own eyes.

_Charity_
    Charity is the father of sacrifice.

_Children_
    There is no wealth without children. It is the duty of children to
    wait on elders, not elders on children.

_Condemnation_
    You condemn on hearsay evidence alone, your sins increase.

_Contempt_
    Men despise what they do not understand.

_Covetousness_
    If thou seeketh to obtain by force what our Lord did not give thee,
    thou wilt not get it.

_Danger of Beauty_
    He who marries a beauty, marries trouble.

_Danger of Poverty_
    Beg help and you will meet with refusals; ask for alms and you will
    meet with misers.

_Danger of Wealth_
    It is better to be poor and live long than rich and die young.

_Disposition_
    A man’s disposition is like a mark in a stone, no one can efface it.

_Doing Good_
    If one does good, God will interpret it to him for good.

_Duty to One’s Self_
    Do not repair another man’s fence until you have seen to your own.

_Effort_
    You cannot kill game by looking at it.

_Evil Doer_
    The evil doer is ever anxious.

_Experience_
    We begin by being foolish and we become wise by experience.

_Familiarity_
    Familiarity induces contempt, but distance secures respect.

_Faults_
    Faults are like a hill, you stand on your own and you talk about
    those of other people.

_Faults of the Rich_
    If thou art poor, do not make a rich man thy friend.
    If thou goest to a foreign country, do not alight at a rich man’s
    house.

_Favor of the Great_
    To love the king is not bad, but a king who loves you is better.

_Folly_
    After a foolish action comes remorse.

_Forethought_
    A person prepared beforehand is better than after reflection.
    The day on which one starts is not the time to commence one’s
    preparation.

_Forgiveness_
    He who forgives ends the quarrel.

_Friends_
    There are three friends in this world–courage, sense, and insight.

_Friendship_
    Hold a true friend with both of your hands.

_Future_
    Thou knowest the past but not the future.
    As to what is future, even a bird with a long neck can not see it,
    but God only.

_Gossip_
    Gossip is unbecoming an elder.

_Gentleness_
    A matter dealt with gently is sure to prosper, but a matter dealt
    with violently causes vexation.

_Hate_
    There is no medicine for hate.

_Heart_
    It is the heart that carries one to heaven.

_Heathen_
    He is a heathen who bears malice.

_Hope_
    Hope is the pillar of the world.

_Ignorance_
    Lack of knowledge is darker than night.
    An ignorant man is always a slave.
    Whoever works without knowledge works uselessly.

_Immortality_
    Since thou hast no benefactor in this world, thy having one in the
    next world will be all the more pleasant.

_Injury_
    He who injures another brings injury upon himself.

_Laziness_
    Laziness lends assistance to fatigue.
    A lazy man looks for light employment.

_Love_
    One does not love another if one does not accept anything from him.
    If you love the children of others, you will love your own even
    better.

_Meekness_
    If one knows thee not or a blind man scolds thee, do not become
    angry.

_Mother_
    Him whose mother is no more, distress carries off.

_Necessity of Effort_
    The sieve never sifts meal by itself.

_Old Age_
    There are no charms or medicine against old age.

_Opportunity_
    The dawn does not come twice to wake a man.

_Patience_
    At the bottom of patience there is heaven.
    Patience is the best of qualities; he who possesses it possesses
    all things.

_People_
    Ordinary people are as common as grass, but good people are dearer
    than the eye.

_Politeness_
    Bowing to a dwarf will not prevent your standing erect again.
    “I have forgotten thy name” is better than “I know thee not.”

_Poverty_
    A poor man has no friends.
    He who has no house has no word in society.

_Riches_
    Property is the prop of life.
    A wealthy man always has followers.

_Sleep_
    Sleep has no favorites.

_Strife_
    Strife begets a gentle child.

_Sun_
    The sun is the king of torches.

_Trade_
    Trade is not something imaginary or descriptive, but something real
    and profitable.

_Truth_
    Lies, however numerous, will be caught by truth when it rises up.
    The voice of truth is easily known.

_Unselfishness_
    If you love yourself others will hate you, if you humble yourself
    others will love you.

_Valor_
    Boasting at home is not valor; parade is not battle; when war comes
    the valiant will be known.
    The fugitive never stops to pick the thorn from his foot.

_Wisdom_
    A man may be born to wealth, but wisdom comes only with length of days.
    A man with wisdom is better off than a stupid man with any amount of
    charms and superstition.
    Know thyself better than he who speaks of thee.
    Not to know is bad, not to wish to know is worse.
    A counsellor who understands proverbs soon sets matters right.

 

   PROVERBS BASED ON THE OBSERVATION OF ANIMALS
_Butterfly_
    The butterfly that brushes against thorns will tear its wings.

_Dog_
    If the dog is not at home, he barks not.
    A heedless dog will not do for the chase.
    A lurking dog does not lie in the hyena’s lair.

_Elephant_
    He who can not move an ant, and yet tries to move an elephant, shall
    find out his folly.
    The elephant does not find his trunk heavy.
    Were no elephant in the jungle, the buffalo would be a great animal.

_Fly_
    If the fly flies, the frog goes not supperless to bed.

_Fox_
    When the fox dies, fowls do not mourn.

_Goat_
    When the goat goes abroad, the sheep must run.

_Rat_
    When the rat laughs at the cat, there is a hole.
    The rat has not power to call the cat to account.
    The rat does not go to sleep in the cat’s bed.

_Wolf_
    He who goes with the wolf will learn to howl.

Complied by:

A. O. STAFFORD (1916)

 

Bibliography

     R. F. Burton, Wit and Wisdom from West Africa.
     S. W. Koelle, African Native Literature.
     A. B. Ellis, The Yoruba Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West
         Africa.
     Heli Chatelin, Folk Tales of Angola.

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