Ghanaian and Nigerian proverbs

A child who asks questions does not become a fool.

A child does not laugh at the ugliness of his mother.

A straight tree never lasts in the forest.

A crab does not beget a bird.

A cracked bell can never sound well.

A healthy person who begs for food is an insult to a generous farmer.

A woman is a flower in a garden; her husband is the fence around it.

He who seems to be for you may be working against you.

Fire and gunpowder do not sleep together.

Let not what you cannot do tear you from what you can do.

Hunger is felt by a slave and hunger is felt by a king.

If things are getting easier, maybe you’re headed downhill.

If an opportunity is not taken when it comes, it passes away.

If the strong man has nothing else, he can at least command others.

The length of a frog can only be determined after it dies.

Do good because of tomorrow.

You must act as if it is impossible to fail.

So many little things makes a man love a woman in a big way.

Do not follow the path. Go where there is no path to begin a trail.

If a blind man says he will throw a stone at you, he probably has his foot on one.

Got a stone but didn’t get a nut to crack, got a nut but didn’t get a stone to crack it with.

It is the calm and silent water that drowns a man.

It is easy to become a monk in one’s old age.

No one tests the depth of the river with both feet.

Where error gets to, correction cannot reach.

Be glad you are unknown, for when you are known, you would wish you weren’t.

If you are on the road to nowhere, find another road.

One falsehood spoils a thousand truths.

When you are sitting in your own house, you don’t learn anything. You must get out of your house to learn.

It is a child who has never traveled who says that only his mother prepares tasty meals.

The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people.

A knife does not know who is its master.

A slave does not choose his master.

A woman is like a blanket: If you cover yourself with it, it bothers you; if you throw it aside you will feel the cold.

By going and coming, a bird weaves its nest.

He who is guilty has much to say.

If a woman gets rich she changes into a man.

If the hunter comes back with mushrooms, don’t ask him how his hunt was.

If we knew where death resided, we would never stay there.

If you are in hiding, don’t light a fire.

It is no shame at all to work for money.

It is the wife who knows her husband.

Marriage is like a groundnut: you have to crack them to see what is inside.

No one boasts of what belongs to another.

The chicken also knows when it’s morning, but still watches the mouth of the cock.

What is bad luck for one man is good luck for another.

If you’ve not been on someone else’s farm, you cannot say that you’re the only true farmer.

Nobody can prepare for the harmattan by drinking plenty of water.

It is the human being that counts.

Nigerian proverbs and Nigerian wise sayings : A single tree can not make a forest.

A single tree can not make a forest.

When a ripe fruit sees an honest man, it drops.

Even when fire has done its very worst, one still has to resort to it.

A man who has one finger pointing at another has three pointing towards himself.

A fowl does not forget where it lays it eggs.

It is by the strength of their number that the ants in the field are able to carry their prey to the nest.

By being grateful, a man makes himself deserving of yet another kindness.

A speedy wrestling and a bad fall go hand in hand.

One finger cannot remove lice from the head.

He who is courteous is not a fool.

Rather than tell a lie to help a friend, it is better to assist him in paying the fine for his offense.

A hunter who has only one arrow does not shoot with careless aim.

It is little by little that a bird builds its nest.

Without retaliation evils would one day become extinct from the world.

One cannot go back to the farmer from whom one borrowed seed-yams to plant to say that the beetles have eaten up the seed-yams.

The one-eyed man does not thank God until he sees a blind man.

Two footsteps do not make a path.

Familiarity breeds contempt; distance breeds respect.

Without knowing a way thoroughly at day time, never attempt to pass it at night.

Fishing without a net is just bathing.

It is only the tortoise that moves and carries its shell about, which it calls its house.

He who waits for a chance may wait for a long time.

Hold a true friend with both hands.

Horns do not grow before the head.

However far the stream flows, it never forgets its source.

However hard a thing is thrown into the air, it always falls to the ground.

If all seeds that fall were to grow, then no one could follow the path under the trees.

The bird that remembers its flockmates, never missed the way.

The habit of thinking is the habit of gaining strength.

If you can’t dance well, you’d better not get up.

What an old man will see while seating, a small child cannot see it even standing on top of mountain!

Before firing, you must take aim.

A bird does not change its feathers because the weather is bad.

Choose your fellow traveller before you start on your journey.

A smiling face dispels unhappiness.

He who marries a beauty marries trouble.

As long as you stay in a group, the lion will stay hungry.

A snake will always give birth to something long.

When the bush is on fire, the antelope ceases to fear the hunter’s bullet.

Two raindrops do not make a pool.

All is never said.

He who is sick will not refuse medicine.

He who does not lose his way by night will not lose his way by day.

A person once bitten by a snake will be scared by an old rope.

The child that will not allow his parents to sleep through the night must be prepared to stay awake himself.

When the elephants fight it is the grass that suffers.

A bird that flies from the ground onto an anthill does not know that it is still on the ground.

The heap of yams you will reap depends upon the number of mounds you have plowed.

If a toad jumps around in the daytime, it is either chasing something or something is chasing it.

A tree is best measured when it’s down.

Fine words do not produce food.

If one finger brought oil it soiled others.

An oil lamp feels proud to give light even though it wears itself away.

It is the first step that is difficult.

Does a man not know when he has pepper in his eyes? If we forget yesterday, how shall we remember tomorrow.

It takes a village to raise a child.

Not to know is bad; not to wish to know is worse.

The death that will kill a man begins as an appetite.

The disobedient fowl obeys in a pot of soup.

The frog does not jump in the daytime without reason.

The one being carried does not realize how far away the town is.

When the next house is on fire, ’tis high time to look to your own.

An ant-hill that is destined to become a giant ant-hill will definitely become one, no matter how many times it is destroyed by elephants.

He who is afraid of doing too much always does too little.

Sleep and indolence are not cousins of a good harvest.

It is not only the fox, even the snail arrives at its destination.

It is the same moon that wanes today that will be the full moon tomorrow.

The bottom of wealth is sometimes a dirty thing to behold.

The spider that knows what it will gain sits waiting patiently in its web. The praying mantis is never tired waiting all day.

A single man can not build a house.

A person on whose head lice are being removed, must be grateful.

When the laborer is praised, his cutlass begins to cut more keenly.

Money does not announce how it is earned but whereas properly earned money appreciates, improperly earned money depreciates.

We are what our thinking makes us.

The man who remembers others, remembers also his creator.

Our examples are like seeds on a windy day, they spread far and wide.

It is the fear of what tomorrow may bring that makes the tortoise to carry his house along with him wherever he goes.

He who does not look ahead always remains behind.

The tree that cannot shed its old leaves in the dry season, cannot survive the period of drought.