Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Nigerian Proverbs

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"Hold a true friend with both your hands."

"That which brings misfortune is not big."

"Love is like seaweed; even if you have pushed it away, you will not prevent it from coming back."

"A man who is trampled to death by an elephant is a man who is blind and deaf"

"A man does not wander far from where his corn is roasting."

"Fine words do not produce food."

"When the mouse laughs at the cat there is a hole nearby."

"A tree is best measured when it's down."

"When a dying man cries, it is not because of where he is going which he knows nothing about, but because of what he wishes he would have done in the world he is leaving behind."

"Two footsteps do not make a path."

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

"Criticism is easy but it does not create."

"The habit of thinking is the habit of gaining strength."

"Thoughts and dreams are the foundation of our being."

"A good name is better than gold."

"We are what our thinking makes us."

"Courage is the father of success."

"A baby on its mother?s back doesn?t know the journey is long."

"A bird can drink much but an elephant can drink more."

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

"A bird that flies off the earth and lands on an anthill is still on the ground."

"A bag that says it will not take more, and a traditional doctor who says he would not leave anything behind are both sure to suffer."

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

"A bad habit that lasts more than a year may turn into a custom."

"A bush does not sway this way or that way unless there is wind to disturb it."

"A calm spirit will enable a man to survive even a six-month jail sentence."

"A bush fowls? playground is never appreciably spacious."

"A bottle of oil warmed over the fire has no means of producing oil by itself."

"A chicken eats corn, drinks water, swallows pebbles, yet complains of having no teeth. If she had teeth, would she eat gold? Let her ask the cow who has teeth yet eats grass."

"A chief is a reward of God"

"A child who fears beating, would never admit that he played with a missing knife."

"A child does not die because the mother's breasts are dry."

"A child who has no mother will not have scars to show on his back."

"A child?s face is his mirror."

"A child is what you put into him."

"A child who is carried on the back will not know how far the journey is."

"A cockroach knows how to sing and dance, but it is the hen who prevents it from performing its art during the day."

"A clay pot of water is never hot-tempered."

"A cooking-pot for the chameleon is a cooking-pot for the lizard!"

"A debt may get moldy, but it never decays."

"A crowd is like a smoldering log which can spark into a flame at any time."

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

"A diviner cannot accurately divine his own future."

"A farmer does not conclude by the mere look of it that a corn is unripe; he tears it open for examination."

"A farmer who would not work inside the rain and would not work under the sun, would have nothing to harvest at the end of the farming year."

"A family name is not cooked and eaten, one?s life is the thing."

"A farmer does not boast that he has had a good harvest until his stock of yams lasts till the following harvest season."

"A fight between grasshoppers is a joy to the crow."

"A for warned battle will not kill a clever cripple."

"A fowl does not forget where it lays it eggs."