Great Throughts Treasury

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

"The parrot that knows how precious its feathers are does not build its nest by the roadside."

"The orphan does not rejoice after a heavy breakfast."

"The poorest person in the world is not the one without money but one without vision."

"The person that we know in the daytime, we don't light a lamp to see his face in the night."

"The poor man’s main tool is his tongue with which he defends himself."

"The prickly branches of the palm tree do not show preference even to friends."

"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 rain wets the leopard's spots but does not wash them off."

"The rich man may wear old clothes."

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

"The stomach has no holiday."

"The soul of a rich man has no taboos."

"The surface of the water is beautiful, but it is no good to sleep on."

"The strength of the palm tree is in its branches."

"The wasp says that several regular trips to a mud pit enables it to build a house."

"The wealth of the greedy ultimately goes to the community."

"The white man lives in the castle; when he dies, he lies in the ground."

"The witch kills "he ate and he did not give me", but she does not kill, "he gave me too little.""

"The witch is going! The witch is going! but if you are not a witch you don't turn around to look."

"There is no medicine against old age."

"There is bound to be a knot in a very long string."

"There is no medicine to cure hatred."

"There would be no gunshots in the forests, if tortoises and snails where the only animals there."

"There is no distinction among the common baskets made of palm branches."

"Though I am not edible, says the vulture, yet I nurse my eggs in the branches of a high tree because man is hard to be trusted."

"They ate our food, and forgot our names."

"Though the lion and the antelope happen to live in the same forest, the antelope still has time to grow up."

"Tradition remains in the ear."

"Times keep changing."

"True power comes through cooperation and silence."

"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."

"Two small antelopes can beat a big one."

"What the cat sees and turns its eyes away from, the dog sees and barks at."

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

"When a bachelor goes to sleep, he does not hide his entire body in the mosquito net."

"When a bat says it will defecate onto god it ends up defecating on itself."

"When a blind man tells you he is going to hurt you and be careful, he probably has a stone under his feet."

"What people get by hard work they don't get for their neighbors."

"Whatever is destined to succeed knows no failure."

"When a child defecates on you will you cut that particular part of your body away?"

"When a crab should grasp what it should not it will end up breaking its claws."

"When a deceiving man tells you to climb a tree, tell him to climb it first. If he finds a comfortable spot you can follow him."

"When a fish rots, the head stinks first."

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

"When a man's coat is threadbare, it is easy to pick a hole in it."

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

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

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

"When a sheikh is getting drown then you are asking of his hat."