50 PROVERBS FROM THE AFRICAN CONTINENT YOU NEED TO KNOW 

Did you know that while almost every culture has its own unique proverbs, some proverbs exist in more than one language because people borrow them from languages and cultures they are in contact with?

According to Matador Network, many African proverbs are strongly tied to the earth and animals, conveying lessons of life often through daily, seemingly menial, procedures. An example of a Zimbabwean proverb is “there is honey but no bees” — describing a situation when you find something free for the taking and without consequence.

Here’s a list of African proverbs from around the continent. Some are known to come from specific ethnic groups, or countries while others have an unknown source and are listed simply as “African proverbs."

➡️ African Proverbs

1. He that beats the drum for the mad man to dance is no better than the mad man himself.

2. Where water is the boss, there the land must obey.

3. No matter how beautiful and well-crafted a coffin might look, it will not make anyone wish for death.

4. A spider’s cobweb isn’t only its sleeping spring but also its food trap.

5. He who runs after good fortune runs away from peace.

6. Even the best cooking pot will not produce food.

7. You cannot name a child that is not born.

8. Birds sing not because they have answers but because they have songs.

9. He who burns down his house knows why ashes cost a fortune.

10. It is crooked wood that shows the best sculptor.

11. Anger and madness are brothers.

➡️ Nigerian Proverbs

12. A doctor who invoked a storm on his people cannot prevent his house from destruction.

13. A bird that flies off the earth and lands on an anthill is still on the ground. –(Igbo proverb).

14. When the roots of a tree begin to decay, it spreads death to the branches.

15. Where you will sit when you are old shows where you stood in youth. — (Yoruba proverb)

16. Even as the archer loves the arrow that flies, so too he loves the bow that remains constant in his hands. 

➡️ Other African Proverbs

17. When the shepherd comes home in peace, the milk is sweet. — Ethiopian proverb

18. If you pick up one end of the stick you also pick up the other. — Ethiopian proverb

19. You cannot build a house for last year’s summer. — Ethiopian proverb

20. If you do not have patience you cannot make beer. — Ovambo proverb

21. Teeth do not see poverty. — Masai proverb

22. You have little power over what’s not yours. — Zimbabwean proverb

23. Better little than too little. — Cameroonian proverb

24. You must attend to your business with the vendor in the market, and not to the noise of the market. — Beninese proverb

25. When you befriend a chief, remember that he sits on a rope. — Ugandan proverb

26. The night has ears. — Masai proverb

27. The child you sired hasn’t sired you. — Somali proverb

28. An intelligent enemy is better than a stupid friend. — Senegalese proverb

29. The young bird does not crow until it hears the old ones. — Tswana proverb

30. If you carry the egg basket do not dance. — Ambede proverb

31. The food which is prepared has no master. — Malagasy proverb

32. The worlds of the elders do not lock all the doors; they leave the right door open. — Zambian proverb

33. The child of a rat is a rat. — Malagasy proverb, similar to the Japanese idiom, “The child of a frog is a frog.”

34. He who is unable to dance says that the yard is stony. — Masai proverb

35. Do a good deed and throw it into the sea. — Egyptian proverb

36. Slander by the stream will be heard by the frogs. — Mozambican proverb

37. A child is a child of everyone. — Sudanese proverb

38. Even the lion, the king of the forest, protects himself against flies. — Ghanaian proverb

39. If your only tool is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail. — Gambian proverb

40. When you show the moon to a child, it sees only your finger. — Zambian proverb

41. One who bathes willingly with cold water doesn’t feel the cold. — Fipa proverb

42. Earth is the queen of beds. — Namibian proverb

43. Be a mountain or lean on one. — Somali proverb

44. A flea can trouble a lion more than a lion can trouble a flea. — Kenyan proverb

45. Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it. — Ewe proverb

46. The death of an elderly man is like a burning library. — Ivorian proverb

47. Do not follow a person who is running away. — Kenyan proverb

48. An orphaned calf licks its own back. — Kenyan proverb

49. If you are building a house and a nail breaks, do you stop building or do you change the nail? — Rwandan proverb

50. We desire to bequeath two things to our children. The first one is roots; the other one is wings. — Sudanese proverb