Great Throughts Treasury

"Only when you have crossed the river, can you say the crocodile has a lump on his snout."

"Rain beats a leopard's skin, but it does not wash out the spots."

"The moon moves slowly, but it crosses the town."

"The person making the bonfire suffers from the heat."

"The good wife at her husband's home, the other one is at her parent's home."

"The poor man and the rich man do not play together."

"The responsibility of power is like holding an egg. Grasp it too tightly and it will drip through your fingers; hold it too loosely and it will drop and break."

"The old arrow is a model for the craftsman making a new one."

"There is no medicine to cure hatred."

"True power comes through cooperation and silence."

"The warrior fights with courage not with anger."

"There is no medicine against old age."

"Two small antelopes can beat a big one."

"Two men in a burning house must not stop to argue."

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

"We must go back and reclaim our past so we can move forward; so we understand why and how we came to be who we are today."

"When a king has good counselors, his reign is peaceful."

"When a man is coming toward you, you need not say: "Come here.""

"When a man is wealthy, he may wear an old cloth."

"When the cock is drunk, he forgets about the hawk."

"When a woman is hungry, she says, "Roast something for the children that they might eat.""

"When the fool is told a proverb, its meaning has to be explained to him."

"When women increase in wealth, they are silent. But when they fall into trouble, the whole world gets to know."

"When rain beats on a leopard it wets it, but rain does not wash out its spots."

"When the bag tears, the shoulders get a rest."

"When you are rich, you are hated; when you are poor, you are despised."

"When you go to someone else's house and the owner is squatting there on the ground, you do not ask for a stool."

"When you follow in the path of your father, you learn to walk like him."

"Wood already touched by fire is not hard to set alight."

"You don't ask for palm oil with a gourd that has no opening."

"You estimate the size of an animal before you hit with a stick."

"You must act as if it is impossible to fail."

"You don't break the calabash from which you drink wine."