African proverbs and quotes are words of wisdom that were handed down from the older generation to the later generation. Africa proverbs reflect the everyday life experience and only the wise learn and benefit from it. These collections of best African proverbs and quotes cut across every sphere of our life. We do not need to forget these words of wisdom, we learn it and takes from its great lesson.
African Proverbs and Quotes
- “Don’t insult the alligator until you have crossed the river.” African proverb
- “In the eye of the mouse, the cat is a lion.” African proverb
- “One cannot stop sleeping because of the fear of a bad dream.” Ethiopian proverb
- “If you escape from the lion’s den, why go back for your hat?” African proverb
- “If you think you are too small to make a difference, you haven’t spent a night with the mosquito.” African proverb
- “Ashes flies back into the face of him who throws them.” Nigerian proverb
- “Don’t think there are no crocodiles just because the water’s calm,” Malawian proverbs
- “There are 40 kinds of lunacy, but only one kind of common sense,” African proverb
- “Indecision is like a stepchild, if he does not wash his hands, he is called dirty, if he does he is wasting water,” African proverb
- “A comb becomes bad when it hurt you.” African proverb
- “A man does not run among thorns for no reasons, either he is chasing a snake or a snake is chasing him.” African proverb
- “Seeing is different from being told.” Kenyan proverb
- “A fool is a wise man ladder.” South African proverb
- “A man who cries all the time is not heard.” African proverb
- “Because we focused on the snake we missed the scorpion.” African proverb
- “An army of sheep led by a lion can defeat an army of lion lead by sheep.” African proverbs
- “Advice and counsel him if he does not listen; let adversities teach him.” African proverb
- “A wise man never knows all things, only fools know everything.” African proverb
- “When an old man dies, it is a whole library that burns.” African proverb
- “A letter from the heart can be read from the face” Swahili proverb.
- “If you wish to move mountains tomorrow, you must by moving stone today.” African proverb
- “He who holds another down in the mud must stay in the mud to keep him down.” African proverb
- “If the sun claims that he has power over the moon, let it shines in the night.” Central African proverb
- “He who does not look ahead always remains behind.” African proverb
- “You can outdistance that which is running after you, but you cannot outdistance that which is running inside you.” African proverb
- “The ax forgets but the tree remembers.” African proverb
- “If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to far go together.” African proverb
- “A lion never loses sleeps over the opinions of sheep.” African proverb
- “A fool has to say something, a wise man has something to say,” African proverb
- “If men swear that they want to harm you when you are sleep, you can go to sleep. But women say so, stay awake.” African proverb
- “When two elephant fights, it is the grass that suffers.” Swahili proverb
- “If you and a fool had an argument, he succeeds.” African proverb
- “Do not look where you fell, but where you slip.” African proverb
- “Where you sit when you are old shows where you in youth.” African proverb
- “A fight between grasshoppers is a joy to the crow.” Lesotho proverbs
- “It takes a village to raise a child.” African proverbs
- “Faults are like hill, you stand on top of your own and talk those of other people.” African proverb
- “Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows that it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every time a lion wakes up, it knows that it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. it doesn’t whether you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better start running.” African proverb
- “It is the one who lives in the house who knows where the roof leaks.” African proverb
- “Rain can soak a leopard’s skin but it does not wash out it spots.” African proverb
- “To one who does not know, a small garden is a forest.” African proverb
- “If you educate a man, you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a nation.” African proverb
- “Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it.” Ewe proverbs
- “A child’s face is his mirror.” African proverb
- ‘When the mouse laughs at the cat, there is a hole nearby.” Nigerian proverb
- “If you close your eyes to facts you will learn through accidents.” African proverbs
- “When spider web unites, they tie up a lion.” Africa proverb
- “When making a fire people like to join you, when cleaning the ashes, you are often alone.” African proverb
- “Only fool test the depth of the river with both feet.” African proverb
- “A roaring lion kills no game.” African proverb
- “A flea can trouble a lion more than a lion can harm a flea” Kenyan proverbs
- “If you are filled with pride, then you have room for wisdom” African proverbs
- “A chattering bird builds no nest” West African proverb
- “One falsehood spoils a thousand truth.” African proverb
- “Money, if you use it come to an end learn if you use it increases.” Swahili proverbs
- “The one-eyed man does not thank God until he sees a blind man.” African proverb
- “A man who is trampled to death by an elephant is a man who is blind and deaf.” African proverb
- “One does not become great by claiming greatness.” African proverb
- “The fish that can see that its water is getting shallow cannot be stranded.” African proverb
- “Don’t expect to be offered a hair when you visit a place where the chief himself sits on the floor” Ghanaian proverb
- “When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.” African proverb
- “A tree is known by its fruits.” Zulu proverbs
- “He who refuses to obey cannot command.” Kenyan proverbs
- “If you want to know the end look at the beginning.” African proverb
- “No matter how hot your anger is, it cannot cook yams.” Nigerian proverb
- “The young cannot teach traditions to the old.” Beninese proverb
- “The sun does not forget a village just because it is small.” African proverbs
- “To get lost is to learn the way.” African proverbs
- “No matter how long the night, the day I sure to come.” African proverb
- “When brothers fight to the death, a stranger inherit their properties.” Igbo proverbs
- “A warrior fights with courage not with anger.” African proverb
- “Like the turtle, every man must stick out it neck if it wants to go forward.” African proverb
- “Every closed eye is not sleeping and every open eye is not seeing.” African proverb
- “The owl is the wisest of all birds because the more it sees the less it talks.” African proverb
- “No person is born great, great people become great when others are sleeping.” African proverb
- “A river that forgets its sources will surely dry up.” Yoruba proverb (Nigeria)
- “When a man is stung, he doesn’t destroy all beehives.” African proverb
- “A hunter with only one arrow does not shoot carelessly.” African proverb
- “Quarrels ends but words once spoken never dies.” African proverb
- “When the music changes so do the dance.” African proverb
- “Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” African proverb
- “A family tie is like a tree, it can bend but it cannot break.” African proverbs
- “You can’t turn the wind, so turn the sail.” African proverb
- “Not to know is bad, not to wish to know is worse.” African proverb
- “He who forgives ends the argument.” African proverb
- “The eye crosses the river before the body.” African proverbs
- “Rising early makes the road short.” African proverb
- “The lion does not turn around when a small dog bark.” African proverbs
- “If the cockroach wants to rule over the chicken, then it must hire the fox as a guard.” Sierra Leone proverb
- “Without a leader, black ants are confused.” Uganda proverb
- “A child can play with its mother’s breasts, but not its father’s testicles.” Ghana proverb
- “A lamp is not valued in the afternoon but it’s valued at night.” Yoruba proverbs (Nigeria)
- “There is no virgin in a maternity ward.” Cameroon
- “Character is like pregnancy it cannot be hidden.” African proverb
- “A fool and water will go the way they are diverted.” Africa proverb
- “A man ruin lies in his tongue.” Egyptian proverb
- “Never bit snake when you haven’t seen it head.” Swazi proverb
- “The bitter heart eats its own.” African proverb
- “A close friend can become a close enemy.” African proverb
- “A beautiful woman is not without defects.” African proverbs
- “People who drink to drown their sorrow should be told that sorrow knows how to swim.” African proverb
- “Until the lion learns to write every story will glorify the hunter.” African proverb
- “The night has ears.” Massai proverb
- “If you carry the egg basket do not dance.” Ambede proverbs
- “Even the lion the king of the forest protects itself against flies.” Ghanaians proverbs
- “If your only tool is a hammer you will see every problem as a nail.” Gambian proverbs
- “one who causes others downfall also teaches them wisdom.” African proverbs
- “Do not speak of rhinoceros if there is no tree nearby.” African proverb
- “A thief does not like to be robbed.” Bantu proverb
- “A guest who breaks the dishes of the host is not soon forgotten.” African proverb
- “If you cut your chain you free yourself if cut your root you die.” African proverbs
- “He who learn teaches.” African proverbs
- “When the head is too big, it cannot dodge blows.” African proverbs
- “The elephant does not limp when working on thorns.” Ethiopian proverbs.
- “Home is not where we live, home is where we belong.” African proverbs
- “No matter the hardship the jungle the lion will never eat grass.” African proverbs.
- “When you pray move your feet.” African proverbs
- “A man will never heed the voice of woman until it is too late.” African proverbs
- “The palm nut that goes into a mortar won’t live without a scare.” Igbo proverb (Nigeria)
- “The person who gossips with you will gossip about.” Kenyan proverbs
- “Judge not your beauty by the number of people who look at you, but rather by the number of people who smile at you.” African proverbs
- “When deed speaks, words are nothing.” African proverb
- “One thread for the needle, one love for the heart.” Sudanese proverbs
- “If you talk to a man in the language he understands that goes to his head, if you talk to a man in his language that goes to his heart.” African proverbs
- “A happy man marries the woman he loves. A happier man loves the woman he marries.” African proverbs
- “Children are the reward of life.” African proverbs
- “One who loves you loves you with your dirt.” African proverb
- “A woman’s polite devotion is her greatest beauty.” African proverbs
- “Love is a despot who spears no one.” Namibian proverbs
- “A patient man will eat ripe fruits.” African proverb
- “At the bottom of patience, one finds heaven.” African proverb
- “I am because you are.” African proverb
- “Patience put a crown on the head.” Ugandan proverbs
- “Kindness to all friendship to few.” African proverb
- “A good conversation is better than a good bed.” Ethiopian proverbs
- “Where there is love there is no darkness.” African proverb
- “You are beautiful; but learn to work, for you cannot eat beauty.” Congolese proverbs
- “For the beauty of a rose, we also water the thorns.” African proverb
- “The gratitude of donkey is its kicks.” Kenyan proverb
- “The cheapest way to improve your look is to wear a smile.” African proverb
- “Talking to one another is loving one another.” Kenyan proverbs
- “Milk and honey have different colors, but they the same house peacefully.” African proverb.
- “Never marry a woman who has bigger feet than you.” Mozambique proverbs
- “It is better to be loved than feared.” African proverbs
- “Kindness is a language which the blind can see and the deaf can hear.” African proverb
- “A pretty face and fine cloth do not make character” Congolese proverbs
- “Every woman is beautiful until she speaks” Zimbabwean proverbs
- “Patience is the mother of a beautiful child,” African proverb
- “It is those ugly caterpillars that turn into beautiful butterflies after the season.” African proverbs
- “Your own ugly child is dearest to you than a beautiful child of your neighbor”. Ganda proverbs
- “The cook does not have to be a beautiful woman.” Shona proverbs
- “There are many colorful flowers on the path of life, but the prettiest have the sharpest thorns.” African proverbs
- “The beauty of a woman becomes useless if there is one to admire it”. African proverb
- “He who loves the verse love also what is inside.” African proverbs
- “Love never get lost it’s only kept”. African proverbs
- “Patience is the key which solves all problems.” Sudanese proverbs
- “A patience man never misses a thing.” Swahili proverbs
- “Patience attracts happiness; it brings near that which is far.” Swahili proverbs
- “Love truth even if they hurt you, and hate lies even if they help you.” African proverb
- “A clear conscience makes a soft pillow.” African proverb
- “Pearls don’t lie on the seashore- if you need one you must dive for it.” African proverb
- “Being happy is better than being a king.” African proverb
- “Examine what is said not him who said it.” African proverb
- “Two ants do not fail to pull one grasshopper.” Tanzanian proverbs
- “A single stick may smoke, but it will not burn.” African proverbs
- “United we eat from the same plate.” Baganda proverb
- “Brothers love each other when they are equally rich.” African proverb
- “To be without a friend is to be poor indeed.” Tanzanian proverbs
- “A small house will hold a hundred friends.” African proverb
- “Bad friends will drive away good friends.” Gabon proverb
- “A close friend can become a close enemy.” African proverb
- Dogs do not really prefer bone to meet; it just because no one ever gives them meat. Akan proverb
- “Money is not the medicine against death.” Ghanaian proverb
- “He who receives a gift does not measure it.” African proverb
- “You become wise when begin to run out of money.” Ghanaian proverb
- “A man’s wealth may be superior to him.” Cameroonian proverb
- “One who plants grapes by the roadside, and one who marries a beautiful woman share the same problems.’ Ethiopian proverb
- Youth is beauty in cattle. Egyptian proverb
- “A beautiful face and fine clothe do not make a character.” Congolese proverb
- “There are many colorful flowers on the path of life, but the prettiest have the sharpest thorns.” African proverb
i love the proverbs i will keep on viewing and sending to friends.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks the post